CyberLove
by wingedneko-kio
Summary: Natsume Hyuuga and Mikan Sakura are the heirs to their companies. they are unexpectedly engaged but surely not in love.him? him? or him? who? that's the question. confusion is always in the way. indeed, the solution is from the heart, i shall say.
1. being me

**pairings: L x N x M x K R x H**

**Characters:**

Natsume Hyuuga/flamecaster

Mikan Sakura/angelinthedark

Luna Koizumi/fuckslutbitch (sorry. I don't like her)

Kaito/wavedude

Ruka Nogi/bunnyboy (recommended my PATMAT)

Hotaru Imai/hellrepresentative

Persona (Natsume's dad)

Reo (Mikan's dad)

Yuka (Mikan's mom)

Misaki Harada (Youichi's nanny)

Tsubasa Andou (Mikan's driver)

Narumi (Mikan's tutor and adviser)

Jinno (Mikan's teacher)

Aoi (Natsume's little sister)

Youichi (Mikan's little brother)

**Chapter 1: Being Me**

"Hmmm…" a brunette with a gorgeous face said while stretching her arms.

…_what a wonderful day…_ she thought

She looked at her alarm clock then "whaaat! It's already 7:00 am!... I'll be late!.."

She hurriedly went to the bathroom, took a bath and changed into her school uniform.

When she was all set, she left her room in its chaotic state. She stormed down the stairs with a trail of smoke behind her.

She passed through the living room where she saw her little brother, Youichi along with his nanny, Misaki Harada.

"Where are you going, Mikan-sama?" Misaki asked

"I'll be late! Jin-Jin will surely kill me…" was her answer.

She ran through the gigantic door… "literally ". She forgot to grab the knob and open the door. Add it all up and there she is, having a make out session with the lucky door._Score! _the door thought.

Youichi looked at his god-forsaken sister and thought

_I truly pity my idiotic sister... _while Misaki just shook her head in sympathy.

After some time, she finally broke the kiss with the door and turned to Misaki and Youichi, (she looked as if she was drunk…) "what day is it?" she asked.

**(chibi moment)**

Youichi walked up to Mikan and said "it's Sunday onee-chan… so I hope you realize that you don't have classes today…"

Mikan looked at Misaki for confirmation… Misaki just nodded then Mikan fell to the ground. (anime style)

When Mikan came back to her senses, she turned to Misaki and asked,

"If it's Sunday… then where are mom and dad?"

"I really miss spending time with them…" she continued

Misaki and Youichi looked at each other then looked away.

"Sorry dear, but they went to work early…" Misaki said with pity

Youichi knew this but even in his young age he didn't really care about the fact that their parents don't have time for them anymore, since he's already contented having his sister and only his sister around.

Mikan was a bit saddened by the news but managed to say "okay then… let's just eat together" trying to sound unaffected.

While eating, Youichi eyed Misaki to do something that would cheer Mikan up.

Knowing that Mikan was upset, Misaki cooked her favorite food for breakfast.

"Wow! My favorite…thanks Misaki-chan"

"You're welcome… now start eating before it gets cold"

"Hai!" she replied with enthusiasm.

**eating**

"Oh… Mikan-sama, Reo-sama told me that you have to meet him at Grand Star Hotel by 7:00 pm."

"Really? Why?" she asked while gobbling up all the food on her plate.

Youichi saw this and he thought _onee-chan really eats like a pig… even when she's upset…_

"I don't know…"

"is that so? Okay then…" she said and left the dining table.

But before she exited the dining room she said "thanks again Misaki-chan"

"Oh… it's nothing" Misaki stated with a smile

**5:40 pm**

"God! What am I gonna wear?" she asked herself

**Knock (3x)**

"Come in…" our tangerine said without facing the door

"what to wear… what to wear…what to wear…" she said or more like chanting it.

Hotaru Imai our brunette's BFF came after the door. The very first things that greeted her were flying clothes and her friend chanting a spell or something.

**(chibi moment)**

"What is a baka like you doing? Praying?" she asked mockingly

Mikan stopped (obviously it also stopped the rain of clothes) and thought

_Wait a minute… I know that voice…_

Then "HOOTTAAARRUUU!" she yelled while running at the speed of light and in her craziest state.

Youichi who was in the next room heard her scream and had the same thoughts as Hotaru ..._as usual…_

She was about to hug Hotaru when she suddenly came to a stop… Hotaru shot her a don't-you-dare look.

Mikan backed off "uh… hehe…take it easy Hotaru…chill…" she said nervously.

She immediately went back to her own business which was launching clothes into the air after that life threatening experience.

_Hotaru… still scary… some things just don't change…_ she thought

"What're you doing here anyway?" she asked

"Well, i…" Hotaru was cut off.

"You missed me!" Mikan said with much energy

"Idiot! Could you please let me finish and…** STOP THROWING ALL THOSE CLOTHES AT ME!" she blurted out.**

"Oh… okay, sorry" she said and dropped all the clothes on the floor

"I got** B-O-R-E-D." (awww… poor Mikan)**

"Wanna shop?" she said with much boredom in her voice.

"so sweet of you Hotaru… but I have an appointment later…"

"a date… who'd want to date you?" she said as evil as can be

…_mean Hotaru…_

"it's **nawt** a date… I'll be with mom and dad…"

" ' figures…" Imai whispered

"what?" our little innocent being asked

"nothing... can I stay here for a while then?" Hotaru asked

"oh… sure no prob…" she said as sweet as candy

**6:20pm**

"bye Youichi… be good…"

"bye, nee-chan…" Youichi replied

"bye Hotaru…" she bid her friend goodbye

"leave…" Hotaru replied cold as ice. She was too absorbed in reading her favorite book ,** "How To Make People Agree With You" (that's the thing behind her expert blackmailing skills)**

"won't you even say "g'bye, take care or good luck"?"

"why would i? now leave… you're disturbing me…"

"ugh!" she yelled and walked away bringing all of the world's frustration along with her.

"let's go, Tsubasa-kun…"

"you all set, Mikan-sama?" Tsubasa Andou, the family driver asked (added info: he's courting Misaki…)

"yeah…" it was a silent trip.

Mikan was pouting while looking out of the window. Tsubasa giggled at the scene. "you know, Mi—" he was cut by Mikan

"DRIVE…" Mikan said… demanded rather.

_Whoa! She's got that mood again… I better shut up… _he thought

After a very long trip, they finally arrived at the hotel.

"we're here Mikan-sama…" Tsubasa said trying to stay on Mikan's good side.

"oh… thanks for the ride, Tsubasa-kun" Mikan said and flashed him a smile.

Tsubasa was so amazed… more like amused…

_Moodswings… huh…_ he grinned at the thought and drove straight to to parking lot.

While walking around the hotel, Mikan heard her phone ring. She's got a message.

**From: Dad**

**Message: where are you? hurry… don't be late…**

She looked at her watch and screamed at the top of her lungs,

"it's 6:55! I've got 5 more minutes!"

She ran as fast as she can but something or someone made her stop.

**-BUMP-**

They both fell to the ground… butts first.

"ow! " they both said

"Sorry mister…"

_Oh god! Why on earth did I add "mister"! Wait… I'm sure he's a guy… he's got that flat and hard chest. I hope it's a guy… I hope it's a guy…_ she thought

"Are you blind or what!" a raven-haired guy said.

_Phew! He's a guy… not to mention handsome…_ she thought after she heard his voice and saw him clearly, but then what he said finally sank in her mind.

"I said "I'm sorry"!" she said getting pissed of the guy's arrogance.

After his eyes were closed for a long while (coz of pain) he finally opened them and showed his crimson orbs.

He was struck by the very first thing he saw -Mikan's …- but was able to keep his cool. Then he looked at her face and _…an angel…_ he thought

Mikan was still pissed so she got up and walked away… he didn't want to stop her or go after her coz it'll seem like he's a fan boy.

Then an idea suddenly came to his mind…

… _that will make her stop…_ he thought

"Hey, polka dots…"

Mikan stopped on her tracks… that simple word made her stop.

"mind telling me your name?" he continued

Mikan was still absorbed in the polka dots thing.

Then after a brief moment of thinking… she realized something…

_Wait… polka dots is my…_

Then she suddenly cried for bloody murder.

**"You… YOU PERVERTED MORON!"**

Then she walked away just like that.

Natsume just smirked. _Sweet…_he thought… remembering the very nice view a while ago.

**FLASHBACK:**

He was struck by the very first ting he saw - Mikan's underwear- but he was able to keep his cool.

**END OF FLASHBACK:**

**7:15 pm IN THE RESTAURANT:**

God! I'm late… she thought while slowly opening the door of the restaurant. She made sure that she opens the door first coz she certainly doesn't want to have another make out session with a door.

When she finally got to their table, she saw her parents, Reo and Yuka talking to a certain person in black with his face hidden behind a mask.

"mom -pant- dad -pant- sorry I'm -pant- late" she said sincerely

"I had some** BUSINESS** to settle." she added

"it's okay sweetie… he's not here yet too…" Yuka said

"What…I mean…who are you talking about?" she asked as innocent as ever.

"oh… by the way, we want you to meet Persona…" Reo butted in.

"oh… hi…are you my uncle?"

"no…" Reo answered

"oh my god! Long lost brother?"

"course not…"

"you can't be my grandpa, are you?"

"have some sense Mikan…" her parents said

Persona was getting pissed ..._this girl is getting into my nerves… _he thought.

(good thing he has a mask…)

"oh… yeah… I get it…" she remarked

_At last_… the three adults thought

"our new butler?" the adults fell to the ground (anime style)

"still wrong? Okay, one more guess…"she said all of these while eating all sorts of food found on the table.

"no… stop! Don't guess… I'll just tell you…" Reo said hopelessly

"okay… I'll listen…"she said while trying to put the whole roasted chicken in her mouth (chibi moment)

(sorry… she really eats like a pig…)

"he's your future father-in-law…"

"oh… okay…" then after full absorption of information…

"whaaat?" she choked and coughed out all the food she was chewing.

"I said "he's your fiancé's father…" Reo repeated

"fiancé!"

**cough**

"you okay, sweetie?" Yuka asked

"do I look like I'm okay!" she answered sarcastically

"well… yeah…" the two said in unison

"Ugh! How insensitive can you be!"

"you're pairing me to someone I don't even know!"

"oh… Natsume's nice, smart, rich, good-looking etc." Reo informed her. He was like a salesman selling goods to a doubting customer.

"so you like him?" she said calmly

"yeah…" Reo answered with pride

"then marry him!" she yelled

"I'm walking out!"

"Hey Mikan!" her parents said trying to stop her

_I can't do this!_ she thought while running to the parking lot.

"wow! Giving notice before a walk out… nice one…" Persona commented.

"I like your kid… anyway, let's just wait for Natsume…okay?"

"sure…" the couple answered.

**PARKING LOT:**

When she got to the parking lot, she realized that she doesn't know where the limo was parked. So she got her phone and called Tsubasa.

"Hello… Tsubasa-kun"

"Mikan-sama?" Tsubasa answered

"pick me up…" she said between sobs

"where are you?" he said, concern evident in his voice.

"p-parking lot…"

"where in –" Tsubasa wasn't able to finish his statement since Mikan's phone was shut off.

He tried calling Mikan a million times, but to no avail.

_Ugh! Where is she?_ he thought while running around the parking lot.

"Mikan-sama! Mikan-sama!" he kept on calling

"Reo-sama will surely kill me if I lose his girl…" while Tsubasa was being driven out of his wits by the thought of getting fired, Mikan was just sitting in one corner, hugging her knees and crying her heart out.

**IN THE RESTAURANT:**

"we're sorry for how Mikan acted a while ago…" the Sakuras said

"it's okay… Natsume didn't come either." He said monotonously

Then a guy suddenly appeared behind Reo and Yuka.

"whoever told you that I wasn't coming… lied…" the guy said

"you're too late… son…" Persona said while eyeing him.

"so where's the **bitch **who's lucky enough to be my fiancée?"

Reo and Yuka were fuming with anger.

"I don't like your colorful language, Natsume" Persona said trying to look calm.

"yeah right… so where the hell is she?"

"she left…" the three informed Natsume

"she… she** ditched me?"** he yelled at them

_No one ditches me…_ he thought

"fine then… I'm leaving…"

"and why is that?" Persona asked his **beloved son**

"coz my so-called fiancée is gone and there's no point staying here with **SENIOR CITIZENS **like** you…"**

"is that enough?" he added

Persona's, Reo's and Yuka's eye twitched. Especially Persona's… he's already been called **a grandpa **and** a butler by her future daughter-in-law** and now he was called **a senior citizen by his own son…**

After that, Natsume barged out of the room.

_Hey! We're the ones being ditched here!_ the adults thought

**PARKING LOT:**

After almost half an hour of searching… Tsubasa heard someone sobbing…

He went to where the sound came from and there he saw Mikan sobbing in one corner

"Mikan-sama, you alright?"

Mikan looked up and saw Tsubasa. She was so glad of seeing him that she immediately hugged

Tsubasa was shocked by her sudden action. But still hugged her back for he knows that as of the time, what she needed was consolation.

"Tsubasa-kun… Tsubasa-kun…" she kept on saying

"it's okay Mikan… it's okay… 'm just here" he said more like a big brother to Mikan rather than a driver.

"I'll take you home now, okay?" he told Mikan as if she was a little kid.

Mikan just nodded.

**IN THE LIMO:**

Mikan was so quiet and so was Tsubasa (for the first time, he was actually able to control his big mouth) but concern was visible in his dark blue eyes.

Mikan kept looking out of the window thinking, _how could they do this to me? Making me marry a stranger…_

It was one of the darkest moments… she was inconsolable…

When they finally arrived at their mansion, Mikan thanked Tsubasa but not as cheerful as before. She was pale as a ghost and her eyes were red from crying.

"anything for you, Mikan-sama"

She entered through the gigantic door slowly coz she wasn't in a mood to get a welcome-home kiss from the door. She passed by the living room where she saw Youichi, he noticed that she was upset so he came up to her and tugged on her dress, "you okay, nee-chan?

"I'm okay…" she said and kissed Youichi's forehead.

After that, she walked towards her room while Youichi did his own business

**ROOM:**

She was lying on her queen-sized bed when she saw something on her bedside table.

She got up from bed and got the **"thing"**

"oh… it's a letter from Hotaru…"

She opened it and read it.

**Baka,**

**Check your account on the internet. There's something or someone for you. Thinking how I got it? Let's just say… I have my ways… and why?... well... it,s none of your business.**

_Hotaru…_ she thought

She checked her account and saw a certain **"flamecaster"** was logged in

_So this must be the one Hotaru was talking about…_ she thought then started a conversation with whoever that was.

**(Angelinthedark-AID and flamecaster- FC)**

**AID: hi…**

**FC?**

**AID: I said "hi"**

**FC: whatever…**

**AID: could you please stop being so stubborn…**

**FC: so you're my mom now?**

**AID: you... arrogant freak…**

**FC: "hn"**

**AID: don't "hn", "hn" me…**

**FC:**

**AID: helloow!**

**FC:**

**AID: ugh! Could you please answer…**

**FC: you're annoying**

**AID: I won't stop… so c'mon… I need someone to talk to…"**

**FC: then go get a dog who'll listen to your speech**

**AID: bleeh!**

**AID: hey! Hey!**

**FC: what the hell is your problem! I'm trying to relax here…**

Mikan was about to answer "nothing" but she realized… she has a problem.

**AID: I… I HATE BEING ME…**

She answered and logged out.

The flamecaster was shocked by AID's answer. Now… he was interested. He doesn't know how or why but there was something that made him feel so interested, more like willing to talk to A.I.D.

**FC: hey! Wait!**

"Damn! She logged out already…" our little neko said cursing A.I.D. for logging out.

**END OF CHAPTER 1**


	2. i'll listen

Sorry for the late update guys… and for some typographical errors…I had to study for my exams…I would like to thank these people for the support and partially because they forced me to… joke…

-Atong (sorry, I don't know her penname)

-Saii

-ryuzaki/L/kira/46

-patrcia matienzo… hehe… sorry pat…

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!

**Chapter 2: I'll listen**

It's been a week since she heard about the dreadful news and also a week after the encounter with the flamecaster.

But Mikan didn't feel any better. She was just sitting in a chair while looking at the view from her window.

It was indeed a beautiful view but it didn't change the depressing atmosphere around her.

Mikan saw birds flying and making different sounds.

"Seems like you're having fun…" she said to the bird that landed on her windowsill. Then after a while, it flew away.

_I wish that even just for a moment, I could be a bird and fly… fly away from everything…_she thought while looking at the bird's retreating figure.

She was so absorbed in imagining herself with wings, feathers and a beak that she didn't notice a pair of eyes staring at her with pity and boredom.

Youichi was standing by the door… (Okay, that was a while a go…)

Now… he is in his room with a phone in his hand.

Then he dialed **4-2-6-5-1-5-8**

"Hello?" a voice from the other line said

"Hotaru-chan…" Youichi answered.

"Youichi…"

"I need your help…"

"With what?" she asked as if she already has a clue about the favor that'll be asked.

"Take nee-chan out…"

"Why?"

"This place is driving her out of her wits…"

"She's been wit-less since birth…" Hotaru answered plainly

"I know but… this one's different…"Youichi defended

"please take her out… even just for a while…" Youichi added

"and why would I do that?" Hotaru asked evilly

"maybe for a thousand yen…" Youichi answered wisely

"you're talking business, Youichi…"

"money-talk… is your mother language, right?" 

"you got me…" Hotaru admitted… (obviously, she can't decline if there's money involved…)

"deal?" Youichi asked

"deal" Hotaru assured

(okay… back to Mikan)

She already gave up on imagining herself as a bird… she looked more like the ugly duckling rather than a happy bird.

So she just lay down on her bed while listening to her ipod.

While Mikan was listening to some music, Hotaru was getting pissed hearing the -toot- sound from her phone.

She was trying to call Mikan but she wasn't answering.

"Darn it!" she said while redialing Mikan's number.

_She's not picking up! Youichi said she was upset but he didn't mention her being deaf!_ she thought.

That attempt failed and as we all know, Hotaru isn't the lady of patience so she decided to wreck Mikan's place at that very second.

-after a split second-

Someone knocked on Mikan's door, much more like banged on the door. It sounded as if that person is being chased by a bunch of bulls.

BANG! (3x)

"coming…" she said while getting out of bed.

_This one sure is in a hurry…_ Mikan thought while walking towards the door.

Just when she was about to grab the knob and open the door, it fell open revealing a fuming Hotaru.

"you over knocked, Hotaru…" she said while looking at the door which is now lying on the floor.

"get dressed and let's go…" was all she said

"where?" she asked curiously

"shut up and do what I say…"

"okay… if you say so…"

-after a while-

"I'm ready…" Mikan said while walking down the stairs.

She was wearing a jumper shorts with some loose long-sleeves shirt underneath and she wore chucks as for her shoes.

"good… now let's go…" 

Then Hotaru got hold of her arm and dragged her to the door.

"where are we going?" Mikan asked

"just shut up and follow me…"

"you've been telling me to shut up so many times already!" Mikan complained

Hotaru glared at her.

"you complaining?" she asked while pointing her infamous baka gun at Mikan.

"oh… no… just stating an observation…hehe" 

"since when did you learn to observe?"

"I wasn't born yesterday, Hotaru…" Mikan replied

"yeah… whatever…" Hotaru replied and hid her baka gun.

"follow me…" Hotaru ordered her.

Mikan kept her mouth shut coz if she didn't… Hotaru would be glad to do it for her. But she can't stop her mind from thinking _… she's telling me to follow… now that she's already dragging me…_

They finally made it to Hotaru's silver BMW Z4…

"get in…or do I have to do it for you?" 

"getting in you see…" Mikan said

MALL GRANDE:

"what're we doing here Hotaru?" Mikan asked 

"what do you do in a mall?" Hotaru said with a -duh!- look on her face.

"shop…" Mikan answered 

"then that's what we're gonna do…"

"oh yeah!" Mikan cheered

RESTAURANT:

They decided to eat first because Mikan's stomach was being more annoying than Mikan herself.

While they were waiting for the food, Mikan was telling Hotaru about all her problems these past few days.

"and then he told me—" Mikan was cut when she saw Hotaru stand up and walk away from the table.

"where are you going Hotaru?" she asked

"let's just shop, I'm tired of listening to your dramatic life story…"

"mean…but okay… I LOOOVE shopping…" Mikan stated

"oh… really?" Hotaru asked but later on regretted asking.

-after 3 hours-

Mikan hasbeen in and out of stores all day long.

_God! Please make her stop…_ Hotaru pleaded.

"Hotaru… look at that! It's cute!"

"that one…"

"I love it!" 

"come on!"

"let's buy that!" Mikan kept on saying whenever they pass by a store.

-after some time of "let's buy this and that"-

"Hotaru, let's –" Hotaru interrupted whatever Mikan was about to say.

"GO HOME!" Hotaru completed the phrase.

"awww…" Mikan complained like a little kid who wasn't able to get her candy.

"come on! You already bought everything… as in every single thing!" Hotaru blurted out.

-while these two young ladies are arguing, there's a poor being locked up in his room-

"NAATTSSUMMEEE!" a voice from down the stairs said.

_Oh please…_ our poor kuro neko thought.

"come down! NOW!" her nanny cried.

"god! Will she ever stop… she's called me for the millionth time now…" exclaimed Natsume.

"leave me alone! I'm not gonna eat!" he yelled back

"you haven't eaten since you woke up…" she persisted.

_Okay… 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..._ Natsume counted mentally

Then… Knock (3x)

"Natsume, open up!" Natsume and his nanny said in unison.

_As expected…_ he thought

"eat now! Aoi is already eating!"

"I'm not hungry…"

"just eat with Aoi… I'll eat when I'm hungry…" he continued

"okay… but –" his concerned nanny wasn't able to finish

"yes! I will…"

Then his nanny walked pout of the room.

_Finally…_ he thought

_Actually… I AM hungry… but hell! Where is she!_ he added

"why am I waiting for her anyway?" he asked his self

"I've been waiting since yesterday…" he said and got out of bed.

When he was about to exit the room,

_Wait… just a little later… maybe she'll log in…_ he thought and got back to bed while looking at the computer screen.

-awww… hopeless black cat…desperate-

-back to the mall-

"Hotaru please… pretty please…" she said with her most angelic face on.

"fine… but this'll be the last…" Hotaru gave in

"promise… I love you!" Mikan said with all the joy in the world

While they were walking around, looking for another store to empty, she saw this jewelry shop -GLAMOUR-

"WOW!" Mikan said with excitement. 

"what?" Hotaru asked and looked at the direction where Mikan was looking at.

When she saw the shop, she thought… _here we go again…_

"c'mon…" Mikan said while pulling Hotaru's arm.

"Mikan, remember, this is the LAST." Imai reminded her

"sure… no prob…" Mikan said but seems like she didn't know what she just said.

The next thing she knew, Mikan was already in the shop while checking out the necklace she wanted to buy.

"miss?" Mikan called the saleslady's attention

"yes, madam…" the saleslady asked

"um… how much is this?" she asked

"which one, madam?" 

"this one…" Mikan said and held the necklace up

"oh… that one… it costs 900,000 yen…" 

"I'll take it…" Mikan said WITHOUT any second thoughts.

Then she immediately went to the cashier.

"I'll take this…" she held the necklace in front of the cashier woman. 

"okay… cash or card?"

"you can take it from my credit card." She said and handed the card to the cashier.

It was a credit card from the bank owned by their family.

When the cashier saw the name on the card which says "Mikan Sakura" the cashier suddenly squealed.

Mikan was so surprised that she almost dropped the necklace.

"hey… what're you screaming about?" she asked

"y-you're Mikan Sakura?" everyone in the store stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the scene when they heard the name.

"yes, I am…" the moment she said that, the people started staring at her with envy, whispering, clapping and smiling… well that was for the girls coz the boys were already drooling over her ever since she entered the mall.

"hey… what's the matter with you people?" she said getting really puzzled

"I can't believe it! You're the princess of the Sakura family and Natsume's fiancée…" 

Mikan sure was shocked by the sudden spread of the news.

"how do you know that?" a very puzzled Mikan asked her

"I've been reading the newspaper lately and… look…" the cashier woman said while holding up a newspaper.

Mikan looked at the newspaper and took it from the cashier woman's hand.

It says, in all caps : SAKURA PRINCESS, TO MARRY HYUUGA BACHELOR

_What the hell!_ She thought then started running towards the mall exit.

"Hey! You left the necklace!" the cashier woman said

"it's yours!" Mikan said

"aah! So lucky!" the other girls in the shop said while looking at the flattered cashier woman.

_Pathetic…_ Hotaru thought then followed Mikan.

Just when Mikan was about to exit the mall, she saw the security guard drooling over her.

"oh please! Don't drool you idiot… it's disgusting!" the guard got back to his senses and looked away with his face as red as a tomato.

IN HOTARU'S CAR:

_Thank God for sending that pathetic angel (cashier woman) and got us out of the mall. I'm really tired… but this baka over here seems like she won't get tired even if she'll be shopping 24/7_. Hotaru thought while driving.

"so that's how I get you out of the mall…" she teased Mikan

"just DRIVE… fast…" Mikan ordered

Hotaru glared at Mikan with a do-you-know-what-you-just-did look.

"okay… please Hotaru…" Mikan said sweetly this time.

Hotaru stopped glaring at her and focused on the road.

SAKURA MANSION: 

Mikan got all her shopping bags and got out of the car. 

"thanks for taking me home, Hotaru." She said through the window.

"whatever…" was Hotaru's answer. Mikan didn't have time to argue with Hotaru even if she didn't like her very cold answer, because she'd be arguing with her dad later and one argument for the day is more than enough for her.

Unexpectedly, Mikan's parents were already home when she arrived. She bolted inside the house, (mind you, the door was open so she didn't have to open it)

"dad!" she yelled, the very moment she saw Reo.

"what is it Mikan? Need something? Reo asked his daughter

"why did you spread the news on the newspapers without my consent!" she asked angrily

"hey! You went shopping? I love those!" Yuka butted in while pointing at the shopping bags on the floor.

"really? I'll buy you one next time, mom… hey! Don't change the topic!" Mikan cried.

"calm down, Mikan" Yuka said

"answer me…" Mikan demanded

"okay… fine, relax… we thought it'd be better if we let the public know of the engagement." Reo explained calmly.

"but you could've told me first…" Mikan insisted

"coz ya' know what happened? Everyone knows about it except me and just so you know I'm the one you're talking about in that issue… not to mention my so-called wedding…" Mikan said that in one breath. She was obviously raging with anger.

"keep your tone down, Mikan!" Yuka scolded

While this was happening, they didn't notice that Youichi was watching from a distance with hatred visible in his eyes. Hatred for his parents.

"oh… there you are… I've been looking for you…" Misaki said to the grey-haired kid.

Then she saw the scene happening between Mikan and her parents.

"oh Youichi… c'mon let's just watch your favorite show in your room, okay?" 

Youichi just nodded and led the way to the room. 

-back to Mikan-

"I haven't forgiven you yet for this fixed marriage and now THIS!" she cried

"Mikan, you'll like Natsume" Reo said

"Natsu—what?" she asked curiously

"Natsume… he's your fiancé…"he explained

"see… I don't even know his name!" an angry brunette stated

"his name is Natsume… and you'll like him…" he elaborated

"I will never like him… NEVER!" she emphasized

"never say never and besides this'll be good for both of our companies" her dad said trying to convince her.

"but –" she wasn't able to finish

"Mikan, we don't have time for this… we still have a flight to catch…" Reo informed her

"just do what I say and now we'll be leaving for our business trip…" he continued

"fine! Be with your precious business!" she exclaimed and ran off

But then after a few more steps she stopped for a while and said in a very low voice, "I hope you realize that we need a FATHER not a BUSINESSPARTNER. " and continued running.

"Mikan!" Reo called out…

"just go easy on her… it's an adjustment period…" Yuka said while trying to make Reo calm down.

"yeah… you're right… now let's get ready for the trip, okay?" Reo said

"now that's the spirit!" Yuka exclaimed happily just like Mikan in one of her good moods.

IN MIKAN'S ROOM:

"They really don't understand what I'm going through!" Mikan said as entered her room and slammed the door.

She lay herself on her bed and thought of something that could make her feel much more comfortable.

_Aha! I'll call Hotaru…_ she thought 

She got hold of the phone and dialed 4265158…

But it seems like Hotaru is taking a revenge on her because she isn't picking up. 

After many tries, and when I say many I mean many… after many tries to reach the ice queen, our brunette finally gave up.

"fine! She doesn't wanna pick up…" the tangerine whined… then she thought of logging in the internet.

When she logged in she saw the flamecaster logged in too.

_God! Not again…_ she thought dreadfully

-meanwhile, a guy suddenly jumped for joy-

You're right… it was none other than our kuro neko… 

_Yes! Told you I just have to wait a little later and she'll log in…_ he thought with pride

But actually… the thing he said about a little later'… he actually waited for 6 hours straight without getting out of his room. 

-REALLY PERSISTENT-

Just when Mikan was about to log out, flamecaster suddenly started a conversation…

FC: hey… wait up…

AID: 

FC: don't be so cold…

AID: what the hell do you want?

FC: would you calm down!

AID: I can't… I don't need your pestering right now… I've got enough of that for the day…

FC: looks like you have a problem…

AID: as if you care…

FC: well… you can tell me

AID: huh… oh yeah?

FC: I'll listen…

They were both shocked. Natsume was shocked because he doesn't know why he said that, while Mikan was shocked because she didn't know that he could actually be nice…

AID: looks like you're the one with the problem… mentally I mean…

FC: shut up… this is a once in a lifetime chance

AID: oh yeah? then why give it to me?

Natsume couldn't give an answer. For the first time in his entire life, he was dumbfounded. He didn't have a choice but to change the topic.

FC: hey… what took you so long to log in!

Natsume thought he was safe… but he realized that it was the worst move he could ever make… Mikan noticed it too.

AID: oh… so you've been waiting for me huh?

_Oh god! Wrong move… stupid Natsume… how could you be so stupid…_ he kept repeating in his head.

AID: hello? 

"man! I have to answer… she might notice that I'm losing my cool." He said to his self.

FC: of course not!

AID: fine… don't be so defensive… you haven't answered my question yet…

FC: what question?

AID: why are you giving me this so-called, once in a lifetime chance?

Mikan was feeling a bit better now. She doesn't know why but it kind of lessen the pain. Even before he could answer A.I.D. already added

AID: am I that special?

FC: well… not really… you're just…

AID: just what?

FC: different…

Mikan was a bit flattered by what he said but then her flattery turned to anger when he added

FC: in other words… weird…

After a while she thought of a comeback…

AID: so you like to chat with weird people… means you're weird too…

_That won't get me…_ he thought

FC: no… I'm not weird… I just want to share with others my intelligence coz you weird people obviously don't have it…

AID: yeah right! I'm logging out… I don't need your intelligence… EINSTEIN!

FC: hey! Wait up… don't log out… you win…

_Gotcha! Hehe…_ she thought happily… she was happy… really happy

AID: so you really want to chat with me huh? Really determined… I'm impressed…

FC: yeah whatever… 

AID: so I win... what's your name anyway? I'm…

_He/she will surely freak out if he/she knows of my real identity…_ they both thought, so they made up a name for themselves.

AID: I'm Riiko Idegawa, 16 

FC: oh… I'm Haiite Takio, 17

FC: and by the way… whoever told you that you win?

AID: oh really… then fine.. I'm logging out… 

FC: do it

AID: never to log in again…

FC: really… you'll miss me ya'know

Meanwhile, in the other room, Youichi was watching TV but he was still bothered about Mikan's situation. When he finally can't take it anymore, he decided to go to Mikan's room right after Misaki falls asleep.

They've been chatting for quite some time now and they really feel comfortable with each other. They teased each other, laughed, quarreled, threatened, blushed but there was something that I was sure of… they were happy.

But they still had to say goodbye… for a while… it was time to sleep.

FC: hey… think you should get some sleep now…

AID: oh yeah… sure… I'll log out now…

FC:

AID: what?

FC:

AID: oh… promise to log in tomorrow… hehe… goodnight

FC: that's much better… goodnight…

NATSUME'S ROOM:

Natsume was already in bed, getting ready to sleep but before he slept he kept on thinking about Mikan, Riiko rather.

_Riiko…_ he said in his sleep

MIKAN'S ROOM:

Mikan just lay down in her bed… but with a totally different feeling. She was really happy… she felt light it's as if she doesn't care about the dreadful news anymore.

Just when she was busy thinking about Haiite, someone knocked on the door.

Knock (3x)

"come in…" she said but didn't bother to open the door for whoever was outside. 

Then in came Youichi. 

"Youichi, what is it?" Mikan asked but in her usual tone

Youichi was a bit puzzled why she seemed so happy all of a sudden. 

"I just came to check up on you?" he said

"am I not the one who's supposed to do that?" she said happily

_Isn't she supposed to be upset right now?_ Youichi asked his self.

But whatever the reason is… he sure is happy for his sister.

Then he asked "nee-chan, can I sleep here for tonight?"

Mikan was really surprise because Youichi seldom asks to sleep in her room.

"sure… come right here…" she told Youichi while tapping the area on her bed which is beside her.

Then all of a sudden when Youichi got to the bed… he hugged Mikan tightly, and whispered "you can tell me anything nee-chan…Youichi is just here… Youichi will never leave you…"

Mikan was really touched by what he said and whispered back while still hugging Youichi, "I know…let's sleep now okay?"

Youichi just nodded then Mikan rested him on the bed and she lied beside him.

She slept having little Youichi in her arms…but before she slept she said, "Thank you, Youichi… Thank you…"…. _Haiite…_she finished the phrase in her mind.

**END OF CHAPTER 2:**


	3. nice and notnice to meet you

Hello guys. Sorry if it took so long for me to update.

Anyway, here goes… hope you enjoy it…

Thanks for the reviews people…

And to those who just read this, reviews please...

Chapter 3: nice and NOT-nice to meet you

(I'll call them Riiko and Haiite sometimes, okay?)

Riiko and Haiite have been chatting for quite some time now. They're really comfortable with each other and they get along so well… so far. In the process, they somehow developed some kind of weird feeling inside them… especially Haiite.

But Riiko being as dense as she was didn't notice it… not even her own feelings.

Although there are still times when she CAN notice it, and when she does, she doesn't know why but she really ignores it… I mean INTENTIONALLY… it's like she's avoiding it…

Maybe she thought that there was nothing between her and Haiite that's MORE than FRIENDSHIP and she wanted it to stay as it is.

It was Monday morning and Mikan was on her bicycle, on her way to the academy.

She wasn't riding her limo or any kind of luxurious car because she doesn't want to be noticed when she arrives at school.

The last time she went to school in her silver Mercedes-Benz, the whole school swarmed around her like bees.

She is really popular in school for her good looks, high… wrong term… let's just say… SATISFYING grades, good attitude and her priceless smile.

Unfortunately, while she was biking, she didn't notice this not so little rock that she was about to run into since she was paying more attention to her surroundings rather than to where she was going.

Then… BANG!!

She crashed and all her books which was in the front basket of the bike scattered along the sidewalk.

"oh man!" she exclaimed and hit her head.

While she was picking up her books, she suddenly bumped into somebody and fell on her butt.

"ow! Strike two for the day…" she said quietly but loud enough for someone near her to hear.

She heard someone chuckling. Then suddenly a hand came in front of her.

"need a hand?" a male voice said. It was obviously the same person who chuckled earlier, but his voice was still so kind.

Mikan looked at his face and saw that he was smiling. He was handsome; he had that brown hair, tantalizing hazel eyes and a well proportioned body… Mikan was amazed but mind you… she isn't drooling… well just a bit.

"um… miss?" the guy called while waving a hand in front of her, trying to get her out of her trance.

"oh… yeah…" Mikan said and grabbed his hand.

"um… I believe this is yours…" he said handing a book to Mikan

"yes… thank you…" the brunette answered and took the book

"so you're the famous Mikan Sakura, huh? He asked

Mikan wasn't answering so he quickly added,

"I'm Kaito Hikari…nice to meet you"

"nice to—how did you know my name?" she asked getting a bit… REALLY confused.

"your book says it all…" he answered while pointing at the book. Mind you, he was still smiling.

"oh… hehe…" was all she could say.

_I forgot… I have my name on my book… stupid me…_ she thought

Then Hotaru's head suddenly popped in her mind and commented,

"so you know you're stupid… impressive…"

_HOOOTTAARRUUU!!_ She thought angrily and turning a bit red.

"Mikan?" he called

"uh… nice meeting you too… Kairo…"

"it's Kaito… not Kairo…" he corrected

"of course… I said Kaito…" she answered

Kaito sweat dropped and thought _she didn't say Kaito… she said Kairo… weird…_

"sorry for what happened earlier…" she apologized

"that was nothing…" he said sweetly

"so… nice meeting you again Kaito Hikari…" she said and shook hands with him.

When Mikan was about to let go, she noticed that Kaito wasn't moving, he was just looking at her.

"hello? Kaito?" she called

Then Kaito kind of woke up from a very beautiful dream.

"what?" he asked

"my hand…" she said while looking at her hand which was still held by Kaito.

"s-sorry…" he said and let go of Mikan's hand while hiding his face.

"it's okay… I have to go now… till next time Kaito-kun" then she rode on her bicycle and started her way to the school.

Mikan was still looking at her then suddenly, "MIKAN!" he yelled

Mikan looked back at him with a -what- expression on her face.

"watch out for that—" he was cut by a loud crash.

You're right, Mikan crashed AGAIN and at the same street.

Kaito was about to run to Mikan, when she cried,

"I'm okay… don't worry… thanks for the warning…"she said _…Though it was a bit too late…_she continued in her mind.

Then she proceeded on her tracks after waving goodbye to Kaito.

Kaito just stared at her back and thought with a big smile across his face,

_Mikan Sakura… one of a kind… my type of girl…_

Then a man who was about in his 40's came to Kaito.

"sir, we need to go now… you'll be late…" the man said.

"okay, Ishida…" he answered and got in the black BMW but never got that big smile off his face.

"you seem happy, sir." Ishida commented from the driver's seat.

"you think so?" he asked

"very much, sir" Ishida answered

_How long has it been since I last saw a real smile on his face…_ Ishida thought

"sir… can I ask you something?" Ishida asked politely

"sure… well… you already are" he answered

"yeah… um… who was that girl you talked to?" he asked

"um…a friend…" he answered with a tint of pink on his face

"I see you're quite fond of her… well… she made you smile" he said

"for god's sake… no one has been able to do that in years… I mean, make you smile…" he added

"I know…" Kaito answered

"so… we stopped the car for her?" Ishida asked maliciously

"no… uh… I just wanted to take a walk and I saw her…" he answered and he is now turning into a red-head.

"oh… I see… you like her don't you?" the friendly driver asked

"of course not! I can't… I mean… yes…" he admitted.

"I thought so…" his driver answered.

" you know me that well…" Kaito exclaimed

"I do… I've been with you since the day you first wore your diapers" he said

"okay… you don't have to tell me about my diapers…" Kaito told him

"fine… but… were you able to get her name?" Ishida asked

"yeah… if I'm not mistaken… her name is Mikan Sakura…" he answered

Ishida was so shocked that he suddenly stepped on the breaks and kissed the glass while Kaito launched to the floor.

"what happened?" Kaito asked while trying to get back to his seat.

"nothing… sorry about that sir… but are you sure she's Mikan Sakura?" he asked eagerly

"yeah… I know she's famous… but don't get too shocked to see her in the streets…" he stated

"it's not that… coz if she really is Mikan Sakura then she's already engaged…" Ishida explained

"she's what?!" Kaito asked getting furious

"she's engaged sir… to that Hyuuga…" Ishida explained further

"how do you know all about this?" he asked

"I've been reading the newspapers…" Ishida answered plainly

"and who is this Hyuuga?" he asked and he's still red but it's now because of anger.

"Natsume Hyuuga, the heir to the Hyuuga Corporation… one of the biggest companies in the world and the biggest in Japan…" he answered

"Hyuuga Corp. is owned by Persona right? And as far as I know he's dad's rival…" he informed

"and besides, our company is the biggest in Japan… Hikari Group of Companies" he added

"since you left for America, they've been number one in collaboration with Sakura Enterprise" Ishida informed him

"it's the company owned by the Sakuras right? Mikan is the heir to it right?"

"yes sir… it is owned by Reo…he is a close friend of your father…" he elaborated

"I'm the heir to Hikari Group of Companies… why didn't he engage Mikan to me?" he asked getting really mad.

"that's what I don't know, sir… sorry" Ishida answered.

"it's okay… not your fault" he said and looked out of the window

_I'm talking to dad about this… I'm kicking that Hyuuga out of this planet…_ he thought bitterly

Then the car came to a stop the Ishida said, "we're here sir…"

"kay… thanks.." he said and got out of the car.

The gate says ALICE ACADEMY. The moment he entered the gate, everyone looked at him and the girls immediately had hearts in their eyes.

"okay…" he said while feeling a bit awkward.

Then she saw the girls uniform and thought, it's _the same as Mikan's… does this mean she studies here? I hope she does…_

Then a teacher with blond hair and gay-ish attitude approached him.

"may I help you?" he asked

"I'm Mr. Narumi, by the way… and you are our new student, aren't you?"

"yes, I am… will you be my teacher?"

"oh yes…and you'll be in class 3B…" Narumi told him.

"okay…" Kaito answered and they walked towards the classroom.

When they arrived at the door of the room, Narumi told him to wait for him to signal that he may enter already.

In the classroom, the students were in chaos. Some were standing on the desk, throwing paper at each other, chatting, sleeping, arguing, and running around the room, shouting at the top of their lungs and many other things.

But there was this brunette who was chatting with her seatmate and then was suddenly hit by a gun and fell on the floor.

Then the teacher went to the front and cleared his throat… there was a moment of silence… just a moment… then they started making noise again.

Narumi didn't have a choice but to announce that there was a new student even though the class wasn't paying attention.

"we have a NEW STUDENT…" the teacher said.

That was the magic word… the moment he said that, all the students went back to there seats and paid attention to whatever the teacher was gonna say… well not ALL of them.

Then a million questions were threw at him… like "is the new student a he or a she?"… "Where's he/she from?" and stuff like that.

After telling the class to settle down, he signaled someone at the door to come in.

Then Kaito came in… the boys had bored expressions while the girls were in love again.

"please introduce yourself to the class, Kaito." Narumi said

"I'm Kaito Hikari… 17 years old and I came from America…" he said.

All of the girls squealed except for one, she was still chatting with her friend who was obviously not paying attention to her.

Then a student raised her hand. "why isn't he wearing the school uniform?"

A girl with short hair asked.

"oh yeah… I wasn't able to explain that… Kaito kindly--" he was supposed to ask Kaito to tell the class why he wasn't in his school uniform but he was cut because he saw that Kaito wasn't paying attention to him anymore.

"well… he didn't get his uniform yet…" he explained

Kaito wasn't paying attention because he was staring at this certain brunette who kept on chatting with her friend.

"so let's pick your partner…" Narumi said

Then he heard a whisper from Kaito, "I want her…" he said

Narumi didn't know what he was talking about when he suddenly noticed that he was staring intently at somebody.

"so you want Mikan, huh?" he asked then Kaito was out of his daydreaming and blushed at what he heard from the teacher, but still managed to nod.

"then Mikan-chan it is…" he said and told him to sit beside Mikan.

You're right the brunette who wasn't paying attention earlier, was none other than our very own Mikan Sakura.

When they saw Kaito walking towards Mikan the boys and the girls were both jealous. But Mikan didn't even notice Kaito walking towards her.

Then her seatmate suddenly told her to look in front.

When she did she saw Kaito looking at her with a smile.

"hi Mikan…" he greeted

"Kaito-kun!! You're my classmate? How wonderful!!" she cried and hugged Kaito.

Kaito blushed at her sudden actions.

"okay Mikan-chan… Kaito-kun will be your partner and he will sit right beside you" he said

"no problem, Mr. Narumi…" she said and pulled Kaito to the seat beside her.

_My lucky day…_ Kaito thought every time he remembers Mikan hugging him.

"okay…since it's all settled… I'll be leaving already…" he said and walked to the door.

But before he exited…" by the way, it's free time since we have a new student..." he said and left.

Then his whole day was spent knowing other people, touring around the campus with Mikan and other stuff.

He met their class president, Yuu, and others like Anna, Nonoko, and Hotaru.

Then he went home with all the joy in the world.

Mikan also went home happily but all that happiness vanished when she heard a horrible news from her parents…well… it was horrible for her…

When Mikan reached home the first thing she saw were her parents and it was obvious that she wasn't very glad about that coz every time they're around, something bad happens.

"hello, darling… how was your day?" Yuka asked when she saw Mikan.

"well….it was supposed to be fine… till now…" she answered sarcastically

Then Reo entered the scene with a guy probably the same age as Mikan and was obviously pissed.

"oh Mikan, your home…" Reo said

"obviously…" she answered

_So she's the one who ditched me, huh?..._ the guy thought

"so who's that?" she asked while pointing at the guy.

"let me guess… my fiancé… ha-ha…" she added even before Reo had the chance to answer her previous question.

"well… you're right… he IS your fiancé" he said emphasizing is.

"what?!" she screamed

"keep it down…" Yuka ordered

"big-mouthed idiot…" Natsume murmured.

"what did you say?!" she asked angrily

_Oh no…_ her parents thought

"hey! You were the PERVERT who peeked at my undies!!" she added

"so it's you… polka… say we're meant to be…" he said and smirked.

"shut up! Pervert!" she cried

"so you know each other?" her parents butted in.

Both Mikan and Natsume rolled their eyes.

"I can't believe you're making me marry a pervert…" she said to her parents

"I'm not a pervert… you showed it to me…" he said

"wait… this isn't how it should be…" Reo said

"so it's supposed to be worse?" Mikan said

"no! Listen first…"

"oh… that's what I did and look what I got into…" Mikan replied

"listen… he's staying here from now on…" he said

"what did you just say? And do you know what you just did?!" she asked

"we thought that it would help you get closer…" they both said

_I can't believe it really is worse…_ she thought

"oh yeah? well thanks… coz you just helped me hate him even more…" she exclaimed and crossed her arms on her chest

"and in case you didn't notice you just made another step in ruining my life…"

"but it's better coz you'll still have to marry him in the end anyway…" Reo stated as if saying that her objection would lead to nothing.

"whatever!! I'm so not marrying that jerk!" she said and ran off

_Weird… she hates me… not like other girls_… he thought

"and by the way… it so NOT nice to meet you!" she added and ran again.

"Mikan! Come on… don't do this…" Reo called

_So she really thinks she has the guts to just ditch me? I'll show her…_ he thought and walked off

"where are you going?" Yuka asked

"none of your business…" he said coldly

_This kid should be taught how to respect others!!_ She thought getting really furious.

"let's call off the engagement… I don't think we're doing the right thing…" Yuka said

Reo patted her shoulder and said "don't worry… he's persona's son… he'll be good… this is just a phase…"

"fine…but are you sure? Mikan is still our daughter you know…"

"I'm sure… I used to be like that too right?" Reo reminded her

"yeah… but you're different… you were better…" Yuka said

"yeah, yeah… let's just take a walk okay? So you'll calm down…" Reo suggested

"okay…c'mon" she said and grabbed Reo arm like a child.

END OF CHAPTER 3:

I hope you liked it. Sorry if there are some errors.

Sorry if it takes so long for me to update. But I just updated last week right?

Thanks again for the reviews…

I also thank my friends who support this fic… this is actually my first… sorry if there are some mistakes.

I'm planning on making another fic and it's titled "too late" but I'm not sure if I'll submit it.


	4. perfect?

Chapter 4:

Hey guys! I'm back… I really had a hard time thinking about this chapter…

I even asked some of my friends for help, and they were able to help me somehow.

Guys… you think I can keep up with one chapter every after one week?

coz that's what I'm doing right now… I try to update a week after my last update… pressure really so I'm not sure… I even panic sometimes… tell me if it's working, okay?

Thank you:

Ryuzaki/L/keira/46

Ikagami Saii (?)

Natsumikan101 (patmat, is it correct?)

-to my friend who owned the number used in chapter 2 (happy birthday!)

blackspica

Thank you also to all of you who read my story… especially for the reviews…

wingedneko-kio: hey pat… I removed your name…happy?

wingedneko-kio: okay… enough with those announcements… let's go on with the story…

Reviews please!!

Chapter 4: perfect?

It was just another day for our dear brunette. One and a half weeks have passed since Natsume Hyuuga moved in to the Sakura mansion. That situation was what Mikan would call "dreadful", "horrible", "terrible", "awful", and if she was in her bad moods, she'd say it's the "only thing **worse** than **death**".

Since the day Natsume entered the picture (w/c was **supposed** to be perfect), Mikan changed a lot… but only when it comes to her parents, being in their house and "the Hyu-uga" as Mikan called him with disgust.

The things that changed: (not really shocking…)

wakes up EARLIER… (to leave the god-forsaken house A.S.A.P. and to avoid her parents and "Hyu-uga")

never smiles when Natsume's around

eats faster (but still like a pig… that would never change…)

cold, sarcastic, arrogant, snob, and bitter to Natsume.

But when it comes to Youichi, Hotaru, Tsubasa, Misaki and her other friends, she hasn't changed at all… I tell you… not at all.

She's still clumsy, idiotic, optimistic, friendly, dumb, warm, noisy, annoying, sweet and everything else.

So now, she's already in the classroom, sleeping in her seat at the back of the room.

After a few minutes, the other students started coming and entering the room but her pals weren't there yet. (she was the first one to arrive)

Then in came Hotaru, Anna, Nonoko and their class president- Yuu. They were all puzzled to see Mikan, well… except Hotaru… (expect her to know it already… for goodness sake! She's Hotaru Imai!!)

"it's weird… Sakura-san is EARLY…" Anna said while standing by the door. Hotaru didn't mind her and just went straight to her seat.

"yeah… unusual…" Yuu commented

"you mean… VERY UNUSUAL…" Nonoko added and looked at Hotaru.

"she's avoiding her parents…" Hotaru said coldly without looking at Nonoko. She answered right away coz she knew that Nonoko would be asking a lot… so she beat her to it.

"avoiding her parents? Why?" Anna asked curiously

"long story…" Hotaru answered briefly

"it's alright to us… we'll listen…" they said

"well it's not alright to me…" she answered then she suddenly thought of something that would certainly be in favor of her.

"but maybe…" she said slowly while money signs were starting to appear in her eyes. Yuu, Anna, and Nonoko knew this wasn't a good sign, the thought of it made them step back.

"m-ma-maybe wha-a-aat?" Yuu asked while his hands were shaking due to nervousness.

"maybe I'll tell you…"Hotaru added

"if?" Nonoko asked right away, knowing that there would ALWAYS be something in exchange.

_Hotaru never gives anything for free…_ Nonoko thought to herself.

"good question… I'll tell you IF (there goes the big "if") you give me 500 yen each…" she finished and grinned evilly

_Very true…_ Yuu and Anna commented on what Nonoko was thinking.

Then Hotaru held out her hand and said "hand over the cash…"

"n-never m-m-ind" they said or stuttered in unison and hurriedly went back to their seats.

Then Nonoko suddenly shot up from her seat and exclaimed, "aha! Let's just ask Mikan-chan" and pointed a finger at the sleeping Mikan.

Hotaru wouldn't let this happen coz she'd be losing her profit, so she pointed her baka gun at them and threatened them by saying, "I hate losing my money… I hate it BIG TIME…"

Mikan was already awake since Yuu already woke her up ready to ask the BIG question… (Hotaru's baka gun was still aimed at them ready to shoot ANYTIME…)

"what is it Yuu-chan?" Mikan asked while rubbing her eyes.

Hotaru raised an eyebrow at Yuu, reminding him of the threat she told them earlier.

"a-a-n-nothing… it's nothing Sakura-san…" he said and walked back to his seat as silent as a mouse and as pale as a ghost.

Anna and Nonoko pouted childishly at what just happened. While Hotaru didn't stop glaring at them, making sure that they'd keep their mouth shut…

"um… guys, what's happening?" Mikan asked, knowing that she missed on something.

"none of your business, baka…" Hotaru answered and hid her baka gun.

Anna, Nonoko, and Yuu just bowed their heads.

Mikan pouted and crossed her arms on her chest.

Then Kaito came in the room and went directly to his seat which was beside Mikan. The moment he got in the girls started drooling and their bitchiest classmate ever, Luna Koizumi started flirting. (Kaito was really annoyed, but since he's a nice guy he wasn't showing how annoyed he was)

Then he saw Mikan pouting and asked, "what's the matter, Mikan-chan?"

Luna got pissed because Kaito gives a damn care about Mikan… well… I say… the whole male population of alice academy cares for her…

"oh… ohayo Kaito-kun!!" Mikan greeted cheerfully

"you alright?" he asked again

"of course… I'm fine…" she answered and smiled. Kaito smiled back and took his seat.

"so Kaito-kun… I heard you're from America…" Luna interrupted and sat in between Mikan and Kaito.

"um… yeah…" Kaito answered, while Luna was busy pushing Mikan to the edge of the seat.

_Now, could anyone please tell me she's not intentionally pushing me…_ Mikan thought ad stiffened her body to avoid being moved. Kaito noticed this but ignored it.

"so… is America really nice?" Luna asked again.

"uh… yeah… it's okay…" Kaito answered. He's obviously bored but Luna didn't notice it since she's busy trying to be on Kaito's good side.

Then all of a sudden, Mikan's pen which was on the desk, fell on Kaito's foot.

Kaito gladly picked it up and handed it to Mikan.

"Mikan-chan, you dropped your pen…" he said

"Oh… thank you Kaito-kun…" she said and got the pen from him.

(Luna was still in between them and she was furious coz Kaito talked to Mikan.)

"so Mikan-chan… would you walk with me around the campus later?" Kaito asked with hopeful eyes.

"sure… no problem…" Mikan answered

Then Luna butted in coz she definitely wouldn't want Kaito to be with any girl other than her, "I'd gladly walk you around…"

"but I already asked Mikan-chan" Kaito answered plainly.

Then Luna pushed Mikan off the edge. When Kaito saw that Mikan was about to fall, his reflexes made him hug Mikan then exchange positions with her so he would be the one to hit the ground and not her.

After the fall, all the students looked at their AWKWARD position on the floor while Hotaru just kept on taking pictures.

The teacher was already in the room but wasn't able to greet the students because of the scene that greeted him—Mikan was on top of Kaito and he was still hugging her. (chancing… hehe…)

Luna's big mouth fell open while her eyes were as big as a plate.

Kaito immediately asked Mikan, "you okay, Mikan" with concern in his voice.

"yeah… how 'bout you?" she asked back.

"I'm fine" he answered

Then they noticed that all eyes were on them.

"what're ya' lookin' at?" they both asked

(they were still in the same position… comfy, huh?)

Then Hotaru showed them a picture of their current state and they both blushed.

(she uses Polaroid camera now… for faster income…)

Then Luna suddenly cried (due to witness of too much PDA… but if she was Mikan, I doubt she'd complain…), "are you just gonna stay there or what?!"

Because of Luna's sudden outburst, they both got back to their senses and sat up straight. (they still didn't notice the teacher… he was just standing there waiting for the event to be over…)

Kaito glared at Luna when he remembered what she did earlier.

_What's with this girl?! _He thought angrily since Mikan got hurt… almost…

What Kaito didn't notice was that Mikan was also glaring at Luna… no one dared to move even a bit coz Mikan looked like she's gonna explode any minute…

Narumi thought that it was all over so he decided to greet everyone good morning. "good--" he was cut off when Mikan suddenly yelled…

"what the hell is your problem bitch?! I already have a lot of problems and I don't need another one from you!! so if you want a piece of me, just say it and I'd gladly beat the life outta you!! get that!?" and positioned herself in a fighting stance.

Everyone was shocked and it also made Hotaru stop taking pictures.

_She's unbelievably scary at times… _they all thought.

Then Mikan realized what she just did and looked at everyone. When her gaze turned to Luna, she noticed that Luna was wet.

"oh… so you're sweating already… scared?" she mocked

"it's your saliva, baka…" Luna and Hotaru said at the same time.

"oh… sorry…" Mikan said

"ugh!!" Luna cried while wiping her face with her hanky and went back to her seat.

"okay guys… you may go back to your seats now…" Narumi interrupted.

Everyone looked at him with a how-did-you-get-here look.

"ohayo Narumi-sensei!!" Mikan greeted, breaking the silence…

_Okay… she's back to normal…_ Narumi thought coz he was also shocked when Mikan suddenly cried for bloody murder.

"ohayo Mikan… now all of you settle down and let's start our lesson for today…"

A lot of complains were heard from the students, before they finally settled down.

Mikan was already seated and was looking out of the window, while Kaito was taking down notes.

He noticed that Mikan was looking outside and wasn't listening (as usual) "Mikan?" he called

"huh?" Mikan answered and faced Kaito.

"is everything alright?"

"yes… I'm just bored…" she answered.

"I'm bored too…" he said and went back to taking down notes.

After a while, the bell rang and everyone rejoiced.

_At last… _the students thought.

Mikan got her stuff and waited for Kaito. When Kaito finished fixing his things, he asked Mikan, "so where do you want to go?"

"you decide…" Mikan answered

"okay… let's go to your favorite place…" Kaito said.

"my favorite place?" she asked shyly

"uh-huh…" Kaito answered.

"but it's kinda private…" she said

"can't I see it?" Kaito asked getting a bit depressed

"no…" she said. Kaito's face dropped… Mikan noticed his disappointment so she quickly added, "but… since you're a friend of mine… I'll let you see it…"

Kaito's face lit up and a huge smile was plastered on his face.

"okay… let's go…" he said and led the way.

But he soon stopped walking…"um… Mikan… where is your favorite place anyway? Hehe… might as well… lead the way…" he said and scratched his head.

"thought so… c'mon!!" she said and grabbed his arm.

"Mikan –pant- wait up –pant- can we –pant- slow down…" he said in between pants.

"oh… okay…"

While they were walking, Mikan kept on talking, talking and TALKING. After sometime, Kaito's hand started to make it's way to rest on Mikan's shoulder… (sorry don't know the right term… in Filipino: akbay…) just when he was about to reach the goal, someone slapped his hand away.

"hands off, my nee-chan!" a voice said

Kaito and Mikan looked at the owner of the voice and they saw a grey-haired guy who was glaring at Kaito.

"Youichi… what is it?" Mikan asked

"who's THAT, nee-chan?" he asked… he used "that" instead of "he" as if Kaito was an object and not human.

"do you want Youichi to beat him up for you?" he added

"no… Youichi… he's Kaito… Kaito Hikari…" she informed

"and who is he?" the kid asked again

"I told you he is--" Youichi cut her off by adding, "in your life, I mean…"

"oh… he's my partner…" she answered.

"Kaito… this is Youichi… my little brother…" she said while patting Youichi's shoulder.

"oh… nice to meet you…" Kaito said and offered his hand. (handshake)

But Youichi didn't take his hand. Instead, he held Mikan's hand and asked while glaring at Kaito, "you courting my nee-chan… Hikari?"

"Youichi! Don't be rude, you shouldn't call him Hikari… and he's not--" Her speech was of no use anyway… coz Youichi wasn't listening… he was waiting for an answer from Kaito. Then Mikan's honorable speech was cut off due to the arrival of the awaited answer.

"yes… I am courting her…" he answered bravely and held Mikan's hand.

"you're what?!" Mikan asked in a not so pleasant manner.

"don't act deaf, nee-chan… he said, he's courting you…" Youichi answered for Kaito.

"so you think you have the guts?" he asked turning to Kaito

"I do…" he answered.

"think so?" he asked again

"I know so…" Kaito answered without second thoughts.

"oh really?" Youichi kept on asking

"yeah!!" he answered and held Mikan's hand even more.

"well, I don't think so…" then Youichi snatched Mikan's hand from Kaito's grasp and pulled her closer to him.

"hey… don't take her away…" Kaito said and pulled Mikan to his side.

This went on for a few more minutes… they were pulling Mikan back and forth… until…

"hey! I'm so not like a ball!" she told them and got her arms away from the two. Then she walked away from them.

"Mikan! Wait up…" Kaito yelled and ran towards her. While Youichi just went to her without a word.

Mikan kept on ignoring them…  
"Mikan, c'mon…" Kaito pleaded while catching up to her

Youichi couldn't take it anymore so he just hugged Mikan and whispered "so-rry"

Mikan couldn't resist and faced them.

"okay… but in one condition…"

"ANYTHING…" the two said

"kiss and make up…" she said

"okay…" they said and launched towards her and tried to kiss her. (on the cheeks… don't be so malicious.. okay?)

"what the hell are you doing?" she asked them.

"you said kiss and make up, ne?" Kaito said while Youichi just looked at her with a puzzled face.

"I didn't mean with me… I meant the two of you…" she explained

"no way..." Kaito answered and looked away.

"nuh-uh…" Youichi said and shook his head.

"fine… then neither will I forgive the two of you…" she said and turned her back to them.

"okay, okay… we'll do it…" Kaito stated.

"WE?" Youichi said. Kaito looked at him with a do-what-I-say look.

Youichi looked back with a make-me look on his face.

"Youichi…please…" Mikan said

"fine… but he'll do it first…" he said

"Mikan… do I have to?" Kaito asked.

"c'mon Kaito…. "

"okay… I'm sorry…" he said…

"your turn, Youichi.."

"he didn't mean it.." Youichi whined

"I did!" Kaito blurted out

"now… would you quit it!" Mikan cried

Then they both fell silent, "Youichi, do it…" Mikan ordered

"I am so-r-ry!" he spitted out

"good… now shake hands…" she ordered

_She sure is demanding…_ Youichi thought

_I've got to get ready for more of this kind if she's gonna be my bride…_ Kaito thought

He sure was in cloud nine when he thought about Mikan being his bride.

"you gonna do it or what?!" she threatened

"we're doing it… see…" Youichi said

The moment their hands touched, they felt like they wanted to puke.

Youichi was gripping Kaito's hand really hard… Kaito was already screaming in his head due to so much pain… but Mikan didn't notice what her cute and loveable brother was doing.

_You better thank god you're her brother…_ Kaito thought while Youichi just smirked.

When they parted their hands, Kaito's hand looked like it would camouflage in Santa's clothing.

"now that's more like it…" our pretty tangerine exclaimed while clapping her hands.

"so Mikan could we just proceed to your favorite place now?" Kaito suggested

"oh yeah… I almost forgot…"

_This guy is trying to score… _the wise little guy thought

"I'm going with you, nee-chan…" he said

"okay…" she answered right away.

"what?! He can't…" Kaito whined

Then Youichi clung to Mikan's arm and pointed an accusing finger at Kaito, "he's shooing me away…" he said, sounding like a helpless kid being bullied by some high school student.

"Kaito?" Mikan said while looking at him.

"of course not… you said that your favorite place is PRIVATE, ne?" he reminded her.

"yeah… I said that…" Mikan said. She felt that Youichi held on to her arm even harder as if telling her not to change her previous decision to let him come.

Mikan looked at Kaito then to Youichi with pity and said, "oh… alright, you may come…"

Youichi smiled but when he turned to Kaito his smile became a smirk. Kaito was really disappointed… he thought that he was gonna win…

"but…" Kaito began…

"it's okay, Kaito… he's my brother anyway…" she said

"yeah… I am her BROTHER anyway…" he repeated but emphasizing the word brother.

"fine…" a pissed Kaito replied, then the three started on their way.

Kaito was on Mikan's left while Youichi was on the right… (in other words, Mikan was in the middle…)

Kaito had heavy steps… showing that he wasn't happy about the whole Youichi-can-come thing. On the other hand, Youichi just couldn't help having that evil grin on his pretty face due to his success.

The two glared at each other once in a while but Mikan didn't notice it since she's busy blabbing about her entire life.

_This kid is trying to ruin my time with Mikan… _Kaito thought bitterly

The glaring game went on until… "guys, we're here…" the brunette said

"huh? We're where?" Kaito asked

"my favorite place…" the tangerine replied with pride

"what?" her partner asked

"this Sakura tree…" the little lady answered and touched the tree's trunk

"heh… LAME…" her brother said

_Is this what she calls private? If this is private… then how exposed is the word public for her??_ Kaito thought

"what did you say?" Mikan asked… looking like you threw insults at her coz… she really looks mad…

"it's not even private… I always get to walk in this area…" he added

_I actually agree with him… _Kaito thought to himself

"anyway… let's just sit here and talk for a while…" Kaito suggested then pulled Mikan to sit beside him under the tree's shade.

_This guy never gives up… good start…_ Youichi thought then walked towards Mikan.

He pushed Kaito to the side and sat in between them.

_This kid is problematic… _Kaito thought

Then they heard something… it was getting louder and louder…

"haha… sorry guys… I'm a bit hungry…" Mikan said and scratched her head

The two guys fell to the ground (anime style)… coz they were already worried… they thought it was some kind of wild animal…

"could you please buy food for me?" she pleaded

The two pointed a finger at each other saying "let him do it…"

"wait… Youichi should do it… I was the first one to apologize… he has to do something too…" Kaito explained trying to escape from another responsibility.

"Youichi?" she said turning to Youichi and forgetting about Kaito.

"no…" he said coldly

"please…"

"no…"

"please… my brother…" she pleaded again and again…

"okay…okay just stop…" he finally gave up. He didn't want to go because he wanted to guard Mikan from Kaito. He wasn't sure if Kaito could be trusted.

He walked but stopped for a while and looked at Kaito. He was staring at Mikan, who had her eyes closed. Youichi saw that Kaito's eyes were full of kindness, purity (he's not GREEN… right guys?), love… different from the eyes that he saw when Kaito was glaring at him.

Youichi just sighed and continued walking.

_He's a nice guy… I guess…_ he thought and ran to the cafeteria to get some food and drinks for his pig-**ish** sister.

UNDER THE SAKURA TREE:

Kaito was looking up at the sky, when something suddenly fell on his shoulder.

When he looked at it, he saw that it was Mikan… she was sleeping soundly…

Kaito just stared at her face without saying a single word… he looked from her forehead to her eyes, cheeks, nose, lips then her whole face… "beautiful…" was the only word he could utter.

He touched her cheeks then smiled when he heard her stomach again…

_She's asleep but her stomach isn't… _he thought happily

Then he looked at the skies again until he heard footsteps…

It was Youichi… he was running while holding some food and drinks too.

When he got to the spot where Mikan and Kaito was, he dropped everything to the ground.

"what took you so long?" Kaito asked but Youichi didn't answer him. He just walked away.

"hey! Where are you going, kiddo?" Kaito yelled

Youichi stopped on his tracks and whispered, "impressive…"

"what?" Kaito half yelled

"I said you're impressive…" Youichi said with more volume…

"you think so?" he asked getting a bit proud of himself

"yeah… impressive but not enough…"

"huh?" he asked getting really confused of Youichi's statement

"I could see that you really like her but…"

"but what?" he asked eagerly

"but you're not perfect…" he finished

"perfect? But nobody's perfect…" Kaito insisted

"I want someone perfect for my nee-chan…"

"I repeat, nobody is perfect… how can she marry if you're looking for something or someone that doesn't exist at all?!" he asked furiously

"you really don't get it, do you?" he asked

"I don't… happy?" Kaito admitted

"heh… think about it…if you don't know how to be perfect, you can never be for my nee-chan… no chance…" Youichi told him.

"I really don't get it… so spit it out…" he demanded

"just think… you'll get it someday…" Youichi said continued walking.

But then while he was on his way he whispered, "I hope…" finishing his previous statement.

"and one more thing... don't call me kiddo... i hate it..." he said and ran off

Kaito just sat still… he was puzzled, confused and whatever you want to call it… he kept looking at the sleeping Mikan.

That afternoon went well… they chatted, ate, and everything else. But that "little chat" with Youichi earlier was glued on Kaito's mind… _perfect?? _He kept on thinking.

When Kaito got home, he kept on asking the maids the same question.

"how can I become perfect?"

And they all had the same answer. "you already are perfect, Kaito-sama…"

They're really used to saying flattering words to their masters without really caring about what comes out of their big mouths… as long it pleases their master.

But sadly… it didn't please Kaito… he wanted an answer… he wanted to know how he could be perfect for Mikan…

Meanwhile in the Sakura mansion:

Mikan was in a good mood since she didn't see her parents nor Natsume. Natsume was locked up in his room ever since he arrived from school.

Then she suddenly thought abut Haiite…

"yeah… I missed chatting with him…" she said and switched on the computer.

She logged in and Haiite was already logged in.

AID: been waiting for me, haven't you?

FC: quit it… I have to tell you something

AID: don't be so serious…

FC: I have to tell you something so stop joking around…

AID: wait… me too, I'll tell you something… I met this guy… his name is Kaito and… (blah blah blah)

_Damn! Why talk about some other guy?! _Haiite thought

They've been chatting for half an hour already and all that Mikan talked about was Kaito, Kaito and Kaito.

_If she mentions that guy again… I'll… _his thought was cut when he got the message from A.I.D. and it said…

AID: Kaito is really nice you know… hope I could also chat with him

FC: could you just stop talking about that guy!

AID: oh c'mon… he's nice…

FC: talk to yourself!

AID: Haiite… what's wrong about him…

AID: c'mon… talk to me Haiite…

_I hate it when she calls me Haiite…if I could just tell her I'm Natsume… I'd like to hear her call my name… _the poor guy thought

AID: I won't talk about him anymore…

AID: I'M SORRY… promise I'll listen to you this time…

AID: please talk to me… please Haiite…

FC: hey…

AID: Haiite… thank you…now what do you have to say?  
FC: it's nothing… forget it…

AID: no, say it… it's okay…I want to know

FC: I'm not sure you really want to know…

AID: of course I do…

FC: okay… here goes… i… like you

AID: is that all? I like you too.

FC: really

AID: of course I like you… you're one of my closest friends…

FC: oh…

AID: what?

FC: it's just that… I like you more than just a friend… I like you more than a very close friend…

_OH GOD… I knew this day would come…_ she thought

AID: stop kidding around, Haiite…

FC: I'm not kidding around… I'm serious, I like… no… I love you… really…

(guys… I want to puke… but this line is necessary for this kind of story… I really don't like making, writing or saying those three words… to anybody… family or not… it's all the same…)

AID: I… sorry

Their conversation ended with a simple sorry since "Riiko" immediately logged out after Haiite's confession.

A loud crash was heard from Natsume's room… he was kicking the bed, the computer table, and punched the wardrobe.

_I knew it… I knew I'd get rejected… why did I have to try…stupid me… _he thought bitterly.

AFTER A WEEK OR SO:

-ding dong-

"coming!" the maid said

When she opened the door, she saw Hotaru standing by the doorstep.

"oh… Hotaru-sama… welcome… I'll call Mikan-sama…"

"okay… I'll stay in the pool area…" Hotaru informed the maid

"okay, Hotaru-sama…"

Then after a while of waiting, Mikan came and sat beside Hotaru.

"hey… Hotaru…" the brunette greeted

"hey…" Hotaru answered

"so what're you doing here?" she asked

"wanna go shopping again?" she added with excitement

"no! I just came to ask how you're doing…"

"oh… I'm fine…" the tangerine told her.

"okay… so how's it going with flamecaster?" she asked out of the blue

"well… just right... hey! How do you know about him?"

"I was just destined to know everything…" the brunette's best friend answered.

"and what do you mean by –just right-?" she asked

"well… Haiite… he-he confessed…" she stated

"and?" Hotaru asked for more info.

"and I… rejected him…" she said

Hotaru almost fell from her seat. "why the hell… wait Haiite?"

"yes… Haiite Takio… that's his name…" she informed

"I rejected him… coz he's… not perfect…" she said.

"what do you mean perfect?" Hotaru asked

"whoa! I thought you were destined to know everything…" Mikan mocked

"urusai! Answer the question…"

"you'll get what I mean… in time…" Mikan said and walked back to her room.

Hotaru was puzzled. Then she got her phone and dialed someone's number.

"hello, Ruka…" she said

"Hotaru?"

"yes, it's me…" she answered

"you missed me already? How fast…" he said jokingly

"shut up… we need to talk… meet me at the coffee shop…" she said

"what coffee shop?" Ruka asked

"as usual…" her girlfriend answered and hung up.

"okay…" Ruka said and wept… _she didn't even say… goodbye Ruka, take care Ruka, I love you Ruka, or I'll be waiting Ruka… _he thought miserably.


	5. just this once

Chapter 5: give them a break

Here's my new chapter… sorry for the late update… I had to go somewhere so I really didn't have enough time to finish this right away… thanks for all the reviews… and readers I hope you like it… okay… here goes… chapter five… REVIEWS PLEASE!!

Chapter 5: just this once

Previously on cyberlove:

Hotaru was puzzled. Then she got her phone and dialed someone's number.

"hello, Ruka…" she said

"Hotaru?"

"yes, it's me…" she answered

"you missed me already? How fast…" he said jokingly

"shut up… we need to talk… meet me at the coffee shop…" she said

"what coffee shop?" Ruka asked

"as usual…" his girlfriend answered and hung up.

"okay…" Ruka said and wept… _she didn't even say… goodbye Ruka, take care Ruka, I love you Ruka, or I'll be waiting Ruka… _he thought miserably.

PRESENT:

_Where is she? I've been here for 3 hours already… _an angry Ruka thought

Ruka already stood up and was about to live when the girl he's been waiting for came in.

_Man! She's late and that look on her face tells me that the thought of hurrying didn't even cross her mind…not at all… _he thought.

"oi! Where do you think you're going? Sit down…" the one and only Hotaru Imai ordered.

"you're late!" he commented in a tone which isn't pleasant to Hotaru's ears.

"so you shout at me now? Another lesson learned, Nogi?" she asked gently

"or another lesson forgotten?" she added but this time it was far from being gentle.

"no… it's ju-hust that I was worried ab-bout you…" he reasoned out.

"and why are you late anyway?" he asked in a more manly way since everyone looked kept looking at them coz they heard him stuttering in front of a girl.

Hotaru looked directly into her boyfriend's blue orbs and said,

"revenge…that's why…"

"huh?" Ruka uttered. The young inventor didn't stop having eye-contact with the guy in front of her.

"what?" Ruka asked and gulped…

"don't tell me you have forgotten, idiot…" Hotaru said

"so…uh… happy anniversary…"

"happy birthday?"

"congratulations?!" he kept on guessing until he finally gave up.

"what do you want me to say?! What have I forgotten?! C'mon… don't make me go through all these guessing games…" he yelled due to panic… he felt like he was under time pressure…

"the reason why I'm taking revenge…" she answered

The blond guy took a deep breath and closed his eyes… trying to recall everything… when he opened his eyes and saw Hotaru's purple orbs… a scene crossed his mind and he got really nervous. "oh… my god…" he said under his breath.

Hotaru smirked at her boyfriend's reaction, this was the sign that he already figured it out…

"Hotaru… that was weeks agoooo… can't we just forget about it?" he pleaded

"you can forget about it if you want… but I won't…"

FLASHBACK:

Ruka was running really fast… he seemed like he was running for his life… and he kept looking at his Rolex watch and thought…

_Oh kami-sama… please don't… it's 9:30… I'm late for one hour and thirty minutes now… please wait… I'm coming…_

He kept running across the streets like a crazy man… when he was at the entrance of the restaurant, he fixed his hair, straightened his tie and suit, wiped the sweat off his face, and walked in.

He went directly to the table he reserved for his supposed date… but when he got there… the table was empty and so was the seat…

He didn't mind it and just sat down coz he thought that Hotaru was also late…

He kept waiting… it was already 10:15… then a waitress walked up to him and asked… "sir, are you waiting for a girl?" Ruka just nodded in return.

"is she Ms. Imai, sir?" she asked again

"yes! Is she here already?" he asked with excitement…

"well… she was…" she answered sadly…

_Poor guy… you can date me instead…_ she thought inwardly while looking at his pretty face…

"was?" Ruka asked

"yes… you see, she's been waiting for you… for a really LONG time, you know…"

Ruka felt guilty of the waitress' words and just looked at the floor.

"oh… and she left a note for you, sir…" she informed

"huh?" Ruka looked up and saw the waitress handing him a piece of paper.

"thanks…" he said. The waitress smiled and walked away.

The note says…

_Dear Bastard,_

_Thank you for wasting my time… don't worry… I really don't mind what you did… I just got to love you even more… just come to me and you'll see how much I LOVE you…_

_Love lotz, _

_Imai_

Ruka's hands trembled while folding the paper. He fell on his chair and thought with fear because of the LOVE LETTER from Hotaru… _I ran across the busy streets of Tokyo like a crazy man, left my car in the middle of nowhere, got_

_chased by dogs, jumped over fences and almost got hit by a speeding bus just to get to this damn restaurant as early as I can… and this is what I get?!_

Because of the influx of so many thoughts in his mind he suddenly hit the table and cried, "DAMN IT!" everyone looked at him with a scandalized look.

Ruka realized what he just did and ran out of the resto without saying anything else but "sorry…"

END OF FLASHBACK:

"c'mon… let's just forgive and forget…" he insisted

"well… I'd gladly forget about YOU… and save your pleadings for later… that's not why I wanted to see you…" she said. That statement made Ruka's lungs function perfectly again. (breathe, Ruka, breathe…)

"it's about our plan… or job rather…" Hotaru added

"what about it? And… when did it become my job too? I just helped you last time because I was only one who would be able to get info about Natsume…"he said

"it became your job ever since I decided that you would help me carry out my plans as PART of your punishment…" she answered

"just a PART?" he asked

"of course… and stop asking stupid questions and let's get down to business…" she demanded

"here are the problems: 1) Natsume pretended to be some "Haiite" 2) she rejected him 3) there's this Kaito who I think is courting the baka 4) everything is going the wrong way 5) if this continues, I won't get my money from Mr. and Mrs. Sakura" Hotaru said non stop

"so… what're we supposed to do about it?" Ruka asked

"nothing…" she answered plainly

"huh? Then… why do you need me?" he asked

"we just have to hide it from her parents… we did our job… I just have to get my money…" she explained

"oh… so that's my punishment…piece of cake…" he answered proudly

"PART of it…" she reminded him

"then… what is my other punishment?" he asked nervously

"what ARE, you mean… and that's a SURPRISE…" she answered evilly

_Oh god… I HATE surprises… _he thought

Then Hotaru stood up and went for the door. _This is gonna be interesting… VERY interesting indeed… _she thought while walking and her poor boyfriend (who looks more like a slave) is trailing behind her like a dog.

MEANWHILE:

"YOUUUIICHIIIII!!" the girl with long, brown, wavy hair called. Obviously, it was none other than, our very own Mikan.

She's lost in the amusement park and now she's looking for her lost brother. Youichi went with her to the park since she was upset AGAIN… but this time, there's no Haiite to the rescue… so she just called for the best substitute… her sweet little brother, Youichi.

"Youichi! Where are you?!" she yelled again and again. But Youichi was also looking for her ever so dumb sister.

He was busy looking at every corner of the park when he suddenly bumped into someone… "hey… watch where you're going… punk…" a cold voice exclaimed

"who the hell—" Youichi was cut off when he saw who it was.

"oh… so it's our GUEST…" he commented

"…" was Natsume's reply and walked away.

"hey… um…" Youichi started… Natsume stopped on his tracks when he thought that Youichi was gonna say something but when he fell silent, Natsume just went on.

"hey…wait!" Youichi yelled

"now what?!" Natsume was obviously getting pissed

"have you seen my sister?" he asked quickly because of pride.

"no… and who cares anyway…"

Youichi didn't answer him anymore because he didn't have all the time to argue with Natsume and just thought, _I was right… I could get nothing from him but crap…_

After 5 hours of searching for Youichi, Mikan finally gave up. She knew that her brother wasn't as stupid as she is so she really doesn't have to worry too much.

She just walked around the-- where is she anyway… okay… she's lost… she kept on running around the place, looking for someone who can get her out of that sick place.

While this one also has a problem –no, he's not lost… he's upset- yup, it is the Natsume Hyuuga and he's just sitting under some tree staring blankly at free space.

He still can't get over the supposed rejection he experienced. Then an unexpected thought entered his mind _where could that stupid girl be?_

He shook his head, to get the thought out of his already disturbed mind. Then he felt something wet on his cheeks… he was crying… joke… it was raining… he got up was about to leave when he remembered the stupid girl thought and the little conversation with Youichi earlier…

He just put into mind that Mikan was already found and that there's nothing to worry about her and continued walking.

That place was really secluded. He didn't see any trace of a person walking along that area. He was already dripping wet when he saw this abandoned building where he could stay until the rain stopped.

It wasn't really a good idea to stay there even just for a while… coz for one, it looks like it's hunted and ready to collapse any minute (really scary…) and secondly, it was getting really dark outside and the weather seems not very cooperative since the rain just gets stronger and stronger every passing minute.

He was already feeling really cold, freezing actually… his body was shaking… and he kept on sneezing… he was about to fall asleep when he saw several shadows not very far away…

He got so intrigued of what he saw and went to where the shadows were. When he got there he heard laughs, several voices and footsteps.

The moment he heard the laugh, he knew that it was a guy and that this guy was up to no good. Then suddenly the footsteps stopped and he heard a scream. He hurriedly went there and he saw Mikan with six other guys surrounding her.

The guys were drunk and one of them was pinning Mikan to the wall, this scene aroused the anger inside him and made him fight those guys with all his might.

"let go of her! You bastard!" he cried while charging towards the group of men.

Mikan was really surprised to see Natsume in the scene and not only that, the fact that he was helping her is really shocking. But Mikan was really glad that Natsume came, if he hadn't… who knows what could have happened to her.

Natsume punched the guy who was pining Mikan to the wall first. The guy fell to the floor and told his companions to attack Natsume.

There was this guy who held a piece of wood and other guys with a steel bar or a knife. Then they charged towards Natsume all at the same time.

Natsume was able to dodge ALMOST all of the attacks. He got hit by a strong kick from the back since he was busy facing the guy in front of him who had a knife. He flew to the hard ground and said to Mikan who was just staring at them because of fear, "run! Idiot, what're you doing?! RUN!!"

Mikan got out of her trance from hearing Natsume's words. She saw that Natsume was lying on the ground and they were still beating him.

Natsume's body couldn't move but his eyes were still open and that pair of crimson eyes were telling her to leave and save herself. The group wasn't paying much attention to Mikan since they were having fun beating the so-called "intruder".

Two men pulled Natsume's arms for him to stand up and the guy who looked like their leader was kicking Natsume's abdomen. Mikan couldn't bear to watch that sort of violence and tears were already strolling down her cheeks.

Natsume was still looking at her and there was this pissed look on his wounded face. He already told Mikan to leave but look at what she's doing, he's just standing there looking terrified.

Then when the guy was about to hit Natsume's head with a wood… "STOOOPPP!!" Mikan yelled while running towards the guy and she held a steel bar with both hands.

"t-the hell?!" Natsume was able to utter weakly. He was bleeding from head to toe.

She hit the guy straight on the head. (On his nape, actually…since he wasn't facing Mikan's direction). The guy passed out and the two guys who were holding Natsume, dropped him and ran to their supposed leader who was now lying unconsciously on the floor.

Mikan went directly to Natsume and helped him walk away from those guys. (they were six but three of them already passed out when Natsume fought with them and the three that remained were the ones who beat him.)

The two walked to wherever their feet would take them. Then since Natsume was wounded and the rain was really strong, they decided to stay in some storage room. It has some costumes, clothes, different kinds of cloth, broken chairs, wheels and other things. It looked like it was a storage room for circus stuff.

The two went in and closed the door. But they didn't lock it since the door's lock was outside.

Mikan laid Natsume on the ground and started to wipe the blood off his body (which includes the face, limbs, etc.). They were both silent and Natsume had his eyes closed while Mikan was doing her thing.

Then out of nowhere came a staff of the amusement park and said when he came to the storage room "man! I almost forgot to lock the door… I'll surely get fired if one of the garbage in that place gets lost."

Then he locked the door (remember, the door is locked from the outside) without even checking if anyone was inside like, Mikan and Natsume.

Natsume seemed like he was asleep, so Mikan thought that she could leave him for a second and go find some help.

But when she turned the knob… TRIED to turn the knob… it won't open… _oh…god… please don't… _she thought while forcing the door to open.

"somebody!! Please help me…uh…us, I mean!!" she yelled behind the door.

She gave up when she was about to lose her voice… she was in the verge of tears coz for one, she was locked up and secondly, it had to be with the person she hated the most—Natsume Hyuuga.

Then when she remembered about hating him, she also remembered what he did for her earlier. She didn't really know what made her hit that man with a steel bar instead of just running for her life and leaving Natsume.

_What's wrong with me? If I just left, then I won't be here… _she thought while looking at the sleeping Natsume. He looked too peaceful at that moment, even in Mikan's eyes.

_Maybe I should give him a break… I've been hating him for like years… but there's also something good in this moron… so maybe… just this once… I could be nice to him…_ she thought and smiled.

When she was about to take a step towards him a thought interrupted the peaceful aura surrounding them, _just this once… you still hate him… more than anything… remember that…_

She tried to ignore the idea and just walked to him to check if the bleeding really stopped already. The second she got there, Natsume grabbed her and hugged her tight… really tight…

"what do you think you're doing?!" she asked while struggling. "and to think that I even thought of being nice to you… you pervert!" she cried and slapped him the moment she was able to break free.

But Natsume didn't care about the slap. He just pulled her down and hugged her again. When she was about to break free and slap him again… but this time harder… she heard something from Natsume.. "c-c-col-d… v-ve-ry co-ld…" he said.

He was shivering and breathing heavily… then she was struck by a sudden thought… _when I slapped him… oh god…_

Then she got up and touched Natsume's forehead. "damn! He's burning up!" she exclaimed. She doesn't know what to do in this sort situation. Then she remembered that she always brings with her some medication.

She got something from her purse and put it in Natsume's mouth… she quickly told Natsume what he was taking in so that no further questions will be asked. "it's a medicine…I bring it in case of headaches and etc… I know it's bitter but bear with it… if you want to get well…"

Then she wrapped him with whatever kind of cloth that could be found in that place. She watched over him the whole night until she fell asleep.

What they both didn't know was that something very INTERESTING was happening while they were asleep.

Mikan slept beside Natsume without any kind of blanket or something since she wrapped everything on Natsume…

Natsume woke up when he heard some kind of noise. When he turned his head to his right, he saw Mikan… she was shivering coz of the cold.

He was puzzled to see that she wasn't using any cloth… but when they got in there, there were lots of cloth dumped in one spot. The he noticed that he wasn't bleeding anymore and his fever cooled down… _she… took care of me? _He thought, looking at Mikan wide-eyed.

He smiled and hugged Mikan to stop her from shivering… _stupid girl… _he thought. When he was about to close his eyes, he noticed that her hand was still shaking and so he decided to hold her hand and warm it up. _I'm doing this because I don't have a choice… no other reasons… _he kept in mind. But anyone could tell that he was happy… for the first time since the rejection he experienced.

Mikan was now sound asleep in Natsume's arms and thought when she was half conscious of her surroundings, _so warm… cozy…_

While they were sound asleep, there was this little kid who never had the thought of sleeping right now. Yup… it's Youichi, he's worried about Mikan… it's almost midnight and still no nee-chan… it was already 11:53

"okay… I'm calling the police…" he said and went over to the phone.

"we will do that… and you should be in bed now… we'll handle this…" his parents said.

"now go to bed… and tomorrow is the time that you worry… for now, get some sleep…" Yuka said while pointing at Misaki who was right behind them.

"okay…" Youichi said plainly and went to Misaki. They went to Youichi's room and tried to get some sleep. But the moment the clock struck twelve, Youichi got out of bed and went downstairs to call the police…

"hey… where are you going? I said we'll handle this…" Reo said while holding a cup of coffee…

"you said that when tomorrow comes… then I can do something… it's already twelve ya'know…" he explained

"fine, fine… but no need to call we already did that… now we just have to wait…" Reo told his panicking son.

The police arrived at the Sakuras' residence at 2:30 in the morning and started asking some questions. They immediately went to the amusement park right after Youichi told them that he was last with her in the park.

It was already 3:38 and still no trace of Mikan. They searched everywhere except one place… the only secluded area in the park.

They searched the area but no Mikan found… the finally, they saw the storage room… they tried to open it but it was locked… they noticed that it was locked from the outside do there's a possibility that someone could be locked it.

They had no choice but to bust the door down. What they saw really shocked them… Mikan and Natsume was sleeping side by side and worse, they were hugging each other.

But Reo looked like he was the happiest man in the world… "I knew they'd eventually fall for each other…" he stated. While Yuka fainted because she didn't expect Mikan to do that in her age. Youichi was just standing there with a shocked face. The policemen just kept on smiling.

Youichi reached for the two and shook them. "hey, wake up… lovebirds…"

Mikan opened her eyes and saw a lot of people staring at them… Natsume also woke up when he felt something move. The brunette quickly pushed Natsume away when she noticed their current state.

"we shouldn't have looked for your daughter Mr. Sakura, she was having a really good time…" a policeman teased

Youichi looked at the policeman who fired that sentence and whispered to no one in particular, "wrong move, man…"

Mikan stood up and glared at the man… "I was jo-king…" he said

"I'm not accepting jokes at the moment…" after that statement from Mikan, the policeman was sent flying out of the solar system.

"okay…our job's done… we're leaving…" the other policemen said and ran away from Mikan.

"kids, c'mon and let's go home…" Yuka suggested and walked away dragging Reo along with her. While Youichi just followed them.

Mikan still had her bangs covering her eyes. "you MORON! Who ever told you to do that?! You PERVERT! What did you do?! You don't have the right to go on hugging people just because you want to… you JERK!!" she threw insults at him.

Natsume just ignored her and walked to the door.

"I hate you!! I hate you!! I HATE YOU!!" she cried. These were stabbing him… these words… and he didn't know why…

He suddenly stopped walking and answered in a low voice... "you were shivering…"

"what?" Mikan asked since she didn't hear it clearly…

"you were shivering and your hand was shaking that's why I hugged you…" he repeated but longer this time.

Mikan was shocked and she felt bad coz she threw insults at him and everything without even listening to his side and to think that he saved her life last night.

She blushed a bit when she realized that it was Natsume who made her feel warm and comfortable.

Natsume was about to walk out when she suddenly cried, "SORRY… and thank you" the second part with a much lower volume.

You could see a small smile across Natsume's face. Mikan was passing by him when he caught her arm and said while looking at the other side… "thank you for taking care of me last night…" then released her arm.

Mikan took one step then said, "we're even… but I still hate you and always will…" then she ran off to where their limo was parked.

"hey! You coming or what?!" she asked while running

"have my own car!!" Natsume replied in the same manner.

He just watched her before going to where his car was parked. _Mi-kan Sa-ku-ra… Mikan… Huh… _he thought happily

When he got in the car, he said Mikan's name over and over again as if it was a term that he wanted to glue on his mind.

"tss… what am I thinkin'?" he asked himself and drove off… but that million dollar smile was indeed glued on his face at that moment…

END OF CHAPTER:

How do you find it so far? please give me reviews… don't worry I'm open to criticisms… it helps ya'know… okay… thanks…


	6. night of confusions and conclusions

It has been three weeks since the storage room incident

Thanks for the reviews… sorry if I didn't update sooner… without further ado… here goes chapter 6… hope you like it…

CHAPTER 6: confusions and conclusions

It has been three weeks since the storage room incident. Mikan seems to be keeping her word while Natsume is kind of turning into a softy when it comes to her. But sadly Mikan just shoos him away. For example,

FLASHBACK:

Mikan was in the kitchen slicing some apples for her and Youichi… (being the good sister that she is, she'd definitely do that). She was doing fine until Natsume entered the kitchen. It was no big deal really since they're just ignoring each other. But ever since Natsume came in, Mikan just can't stop looking at him secretly and she hates herself for it. _Man! Stop it… Mikan… stop it… _she keeps saying to herself.

She kept on closing her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on what she was doing. She can't help it so she just worked faster so she could get out of there asap. She wouldn't want to break her promise… that she would only be nice to Natsume ONCE…not TWICE and definitely not THRICE.

Because she was hurrying too much… this is what happened: "ow" she cried and dropped the knife. Natsume almost jumped from his seat when he heard her. He immediately went to Mikan's side and looked at her hand which was bleeding.

He held her hand and pressed on the wounded finger to make it bleed. (so it won't get infected) Mikan pulled her hand away from him when she saw that Natsume was about to suck the blood out. "hey… what do you think you're doing?!" Mikan said trying to hide the blush on her face.

"idiot, can't you see…" he answered then got her hand. He was about to proceed with what he was doing a while ago when he realized that he shouldn't. he let go of her and said with shame in his voice, "s-sorry… just wash it"

"o-okay…" she said and ran past Natsume bringing the apples with her. She wasn't even finished with the apples. Who cares about the apples anyway… she had to go before the situation gets completely out of hand.

_Damn! I've got to stop this… what's happening to me!! This can't be my reflex action... something's definitely wrong with me… you're losing your cool… relax Natsume… relax… _he thought…

END OF FLASHBACK:

It was a Sunday evening and she was spending her time left before dinner in Youichi's room. She was helping her little brother prepare his things for his fieldtrip tomorrow.

She was the one helping him since Misaki was helping the other maids prepare food. They were preparing a lot of food as if there were visitors. Mikan just ignored this since she likes it when there's a lot of food in the house… a real pig…

Yuka was the one who shopped for the food that he would bring, so as expected, he would be having a lot of food to bring. He liked it. Especially because she bought a lot of chips, cookies, sweets and soda.

But he noticed that the quantity of food that he has was getting smaller. He ignored it until he saw that his sister, Mikan was opening some chips and eating them.

"you're here to help not to eat…" Youichi exclaimed and snatched the food from her.

"I am helping you…" she said while trying to retrieve the thing that she was eating earlier.

"I'm eating it coz there's too many of 'em it won't fit in your bag anymore… so I just ate rather than it gets to be wasted…" she added while trying to open another pack of cookies… since she gave up on trying to get the chips on Youichi…

"gimme that…" he said and tried to snatch the cookies from Mikan. Mikan ran as fast as she can around the room.

They both just kicked aside everything that was on their way. After a few minutes of running after each other, they heard a familiar voice call the two of them.

They stopped running when they heard her. The room was now in total chaos. The food was everywhere, the chairs and toys were scattered, the bed cover was on the floor and everything else was in total disarray.

After a moment, they saw Misaki barge in the room.

"dinner is…" she was cut off by what she saw. Mikan was standing on the bed while Youichi was kneeling on the sofa ready to throw a pillow it Mikan.

Mikan and Youichi just stared at her. "served…" she continued her previous statement. The moment they heard the word "served" they stormed out of the room leaving Misaki in shock. Poor Misaki…

When they got to the dining room they were expecting three people and a couple of maids in the room but instead there were five people. Persona was there along with a girl… unknown girl… Youichi saw the girl and was mesmerized…

"oh… come take your seats now so we could start" Reo said the moment he saw his kids standing by the door. It was an elegant looking room with a long table in the middle.

But something startled the people in the room. Mikan was only wearing her normal clothes, a shirt and short shorts while Youichi was in his pj's. it was obviously a formal dinner.

But Mikan and Youichi didn't mind that the spotlight was on them. They were used to it even if they don't know exactly why people are staring at them.

"o-okay… let's start…" Reo suggested taking all the attention from the two.

Mikan just kept on eating everything… Aoi was the only one who was shocked of Mikan's behavior. Persona wasn't since he already ate dinner with Mikan a few months ago so he knows about her ill eating behavior.

Natsume just ate quietly while Youichi kept on glancing at Aoi. Mikan noticed this and elbowed Youichi. He looked at her and asked irritably, "what?"

"you like her don't you?" she said with a malicious grin.

"oh shut up… it's none of your business…" he replied

Their voices were getting louder and they started to get everyone's attention again. Yuka looked at them with a would-you-quit-it look. They both stopped arguing and focused on their food.

Since the silence was already broken, Reo decided to start a conversation.

"okay… so we're all here to discuss things about our family…"

_Yeah right… we're not even married yet and they consider our families as one… _Mikan thought inwardly.

"what about? So tell me, is Youichi gonna be engaged too?" she said with a bit of sarcasm in her voice. Aoi and Youichi both looked up from their plates because of Mikan's question.

"no way… I just came here with dad to eat… not to get married, you know…" Aoi said for the first time. Youichi smiled secretly at her statement.

"NO, Mikan… it's about you and Natsume…" Reo told her. Mikan didn't say anything.

"we can see that your relationship with Natsume isn't going well…" Reo started.

"oh… so you could notice that… I hope you also notice why…" Mikan answered and glared at Natsume. Natsume just looked at Mikan for a second then looked back to his plate.

"so we decided…" Yuka began. _To call off the engagement… _Mikan finished in her mind.

"that you should go to America…" she finished. "what the hell?!" Mikan retorted. This time Natsume looked up at persona with a what's-this-about look.

Persona knew that reaction from Natsume… it mean that he doesn't like what's happening so Persona decided to butt in the conversation. "unless... we see an improvement in your relationship…"

Natsume looked at Persona and mouthed "that's not what I meant…" it's not like he likes Mikan or something… he just didn't feel right about the America issue and he doesn't know why.

"no fu--… no way!" she cried… Persona and the others seemed like they weren't listening. She looked at Natsume who wasn't reacting at all. "god! React, idiot!" she ordered.

"whatever…" was all he said._ That's it? is that the best reaction he could give? _

She turned to Youichi, expecting some help but unfortunately, Youichi was busy doing his own business: staring at Aoi while the girl was blushing… big time…

"ugh! You people are hopeless!" she said and walk away from the table. She was about to leave when she remembered something and went back to the table. "I forgot my plate…" she grabbed the plate with food and walked towards the door.

"Youichi c'mon! be supportive of me… STOP FLIRTING!" she cried without looking back. Youichi glared at her but later on obeyed her orders. When he walked a few meters away from the table, he came back.

"you forgot your plate too?" Yuka asked him. Youichi didn't bother to answer his question. He just walked to Aoi and planted a kiss on her right cheek and whispered, "it's nice to meet you…"

Aoi blushed even harder because of his actions while the maids at the back giggled. Natsume and Persona smirked while Reo and Yuka were shocked. Youichi wasn't the kind of guy who'd do that.

Natsume stood from the table and said, "I guess I don't have any business here anymore… ciao…"

Mikan went directly to her room with Youichi as an escort. He made sure that she'll be fine then he left… to doze off to dreamland… Mikan was alone now and she couldn't sleep. She wanted someone to talk to. She knew that Hotaru could possibly be asleep now and so could be Kaito. Then she suddenly remembered Haiite.

_It's been a long time since that day… I hope he's fine… did I really do the right thing to reject him just like that… better talk to him…_ she thought then opened the computer and logged in. no one was in even Haiite but she didn't give up she just kept on waiting.

Natsume on the other hand was in the garden, sorting out his feelings for Mikan and Riiko. _Shit! What's happening to me? I can't like two people at the same time… but why is this feeling too familiar when it comes to Mikan… it seems like there's something that makes the difference between the two of them… _he couldn't stop the influx of thoughts. (just so you know, it was already 11:40 so Persona and Aoi went off already and Youichi and his parents could possibly be asleep)

After a several minutes of thinking… he came into a conclusion that was really weird for him… "I love Mikan while I like Riiko… or is it the other way around… I love Riiko while I like Mikan?" _Damn! I'm going nuts! _

He finally got tired o thinking and decided to go up to hi room which was next to Mikan's. when he passed by her room, he noticed that it was slightly open. _It's open… better close it… _he thought.

When he got near, he saw some kind of light inside. He was intrigued so he went in only to see Mikan sleeping on the computer desk and the computer was still on.

He went near her and looked at her face intently. He was looking at every inch of her face, every detail, every feature… he was memorizing it… he wanted to touch her cheek but he hesitated. Instead he just carried her carefully to her bed and put a blanket over her.

He wanted to touch her cheek again and this time he didn't hesitate. He felt really good at that time… he noticed that it was already passed twelve, he went to the computer and was about to turn it off when… "no way… she can't be…" then he looked at Mikan…

He jut shook his head and turned off the computer as fast as he can and was about to run out of the room when he heard Mikan sleep talk. He went closer and there he heard it… "Haiite… goodnight…" _she's dreaming that she's chatting with Haiite…_ Natsume thought to himself.

"good--" he was about to answer when a thought came to him, _you're not Haiite… he's a different person… and most of all Haiite likes Riiko and not Mikan… _a horrible truth came next… _Mikan is pleased with Haiite and not with Natsume…_

He became sad but still managed to say, " goodnight… Mikan…" and then he kissed her forehead. He didn't know that there was someone watching him.

It was Misaki. She was just passing by since she was headed towards Youichi's room to check up on him when he noticed the door to Mikan's room slightly open. She watched the whole thing… from the carrying of Mikan to the kissing of the forehead. After that she left with this thought _they do make a pretty cute couple…_

He went off to his room and lay on the bed… he wasn't able to sleep… he doesn't know what to do… but after two more hours… he finally fell asleep… since he was satisfied with what he figured out one solution… PRETENTION. Haiite will continue to

exist… unless she falls for him…

END OF CHAPTER 6:

Sorry for the VERY late update… I had a hard time sorting things out… I didn't know what to do in this chapter… but patmat was already bugging me about it so here it is… pat… I updated at exactly two o'clock.

REVIEWS PLEASE…

REVIEWS PLEASE…

REVIEWS PLEASE…


	7. date, huh?

chapter 7: date, huh

Hello! I'm back… I know this update is way LATER than LATE… I'm sorry… but I can say that I did my best in this chap… but I guess you won't like it much since Mikan was still being bitchy… but I hope that you would still appreciate it. REVIEWS PLEASE….

chapter 7: date, huh?

It was a Thursday evening and Mikan still couldn't figure out what to do about her so called relationship with Natsume. She definitely wouldn't want to leave Japan but neither does she want to be with Natsume.

Reo and Yuka just kept an eye on her. They made sure that everything was going smoothly between the two. That evening, Mikan ate her supper in her room since she was expecting some bad news every time she eats with her parents.

When she finished eating, she washed up and got herself ready to go to bed. But unluckily, she couldn't sleep… AGAIN… (this girl definitely has insomnia…). She just kept on rolling around the bed and switching the television on and off…

She was really bored… and tired but she also doesn't feel sleepy… not at all… then she suddenly heard her phone (in the room) ring… she immediately picked it up since she was dying to have something to do.

"hello?" Mikan said expecting that the caller was Hotaru.

"um… so you still awake, huh? Sorry for the disturbance…" the voice on the other said

"do I know you?" she asked. She was pretty sure that Hotaru wasn't the owner of that voice… it sounded masculine…

"uh… sorry… it's me, Kaito…" he replied

"Kaito-kun?"

"yeah… sorry if you were already sleeping…"

"sleeping? I hope I was… thank you so much for calling… boredom was totally killing me…" she answered… they were having a pretty good conversation. She kept hearing these noises on the other line but ignored it thinking that it came from Kaito's place…

She was having a good time talking to him since they have so much to talk about like school, life, parents and everything under the sun, when Natsume suddenly barged in the room and ended their conversation. "what the--" Mikan uttered

Natsume just walked away but Mikan would never let him get away with that. "what was that for, idiot?!"

"it's none of your business, polka…" he replied coldly

"what do you mean it's none of my business… I was talking to my friend!!" she argued

"who cares…" he said and walked out of the room. Mikan was about to follow him but changed her mind, knowing that would all end up with nothing.

Natsume was on his way to the garden to do some thinking when he met Reo and Yuka halfway. They looked up at Natsume who was going down the stairs with a disappointed expression. Natsume just looked away and continued walking towards the garden.

Mikan just lay down on her bed and thought, _arrogant freak! _While reminiscing what Natsume did a while ago.

Mikan was about to doze off when her parents came in. Mikan sensed that something was going on… "Mikan, let's talk…" Reo said and they both sat on the bed while Mikan sat up straight.

"what now? Another UN-pleasant surprise?" she asked sarcastically. Reo just ignored her statement since he knew that nothing angelic would come from his angelic daughter when it comes to this matter.

"we want you to go on a date with Natsume this Saturday…" Yuka stated

"but--" Mikan's protest was cut off when Yuka looked at her with a no-buts look. Mikan just gave up on them and went under the cover.

"is that all?" she said still under the cover.

"yeah…" Reo answered. "leave… now…" she said without bothering to look at them.

"okay… g'night…" Yuka said and was about to kiss Mikan's forehead when she turned to the other side of the bed and said, "yeah, whatever…"

Reo just shook his head and signaled Yuka that they should leave. Yuka sighed and looked at her daughter sadly before leaving.

_Another problem… as expected from them… _she thought then slept.

The next day, Mikan didn't pay much attention to anyone. Her mind was always drifting to some other place. She also ignored the people in school which made Kaito conclude that there was something wrong.

It was already Jinno-sensei's class and she was still absent-minded. She just kept on looking out of the window. Jinno faced the class for some important instructions when he noticed that Mikan wasn't paying attention.

"sakura…" he called but Mikan didn't budge. Jinno was pissed. Nobody could ignore him just like that!

"Sakura…"

"SAKURA!!" with that, Mikan was totally pulled out of her trance. She was so deep in thought at that time that she forgot that she was in the classroom and it was Jinno-sensei calling her. So here goes the unexpected answer…

"WHAT!! You're being too noisy!! I'm thinking here!! SO SHUT UP!" everyone was shocked since no one… not one in the history of alice academy ever had the guts to do that to Jinno.

At this point, Hotaru closed her math book and watched the scene… she was definitely interested to see what's gonna happen next. This was something new to the alice academy students… since this would be the first time that someone has told Jinno to shut up.

Everyone was looking at Mikan now and they could feel the tension surrounding the whole class. Mikan realized that she had just made the biggest mistake in her life… she looked at Jinno who was glaring at her.

"s-sir…" she was about to give excuses when Jinno cut her off.

"thinking, huh? I'd be glad to give you something to think about…" Mikan gulped at his statement.

"answer this problem on the board…" he ordered

"but…" Mikan was about to object when the furious teacher cut her off.

"NOW!" he yelled. Mikan immediately ran towards the chalkboard and started to answer the problem, when the bell rang. _Saved by the bell! _She thought happily.

She was about to run back to her chair when Jinno stopped her. "where do you think you're going, missy?"

"uh… it's dismissal time…" she explained

"dismissal time for other students… you have to finish that problem then…"

"home?" Mikan hoped.

"you wish… you're going to detention… and you'll stay there for 3 hours…"

"what?! You've gotta be kidding me…"

"okay then… let's make it 6 hours…" Jinno said and left Mikan. The poor girl had a very hard time answering the darn question. "man! this subject has to be scraped from this school for good!" _stop daydreaming… you still have to go to detention, remember…_ a voice in her head reminded her.

"yeah, yeah… shut up already…" she said… she didn't notice that there were students passing by and hard her talk.

"man! I pity her… that math equation is making her go nuts… talking to herself… poor girl…" one of the students said

Mikan heard the part when the student said that she was going nuts… and this made her outrageous… she glared at them and said… "what?! Who's going nuts, huh?!"

The students got scared and ran off. Mikan got back to business. After an hour and a half, she finally answered the question. (I didn't say that she answered it correctly… I just said that she was able to answer it… okay?)

She went to the detention area… she was all alone in that place… since no rebels were admitted to alice academy… the school had the reputation of no single student having to attend detention… and on this day, that goody-good-students reputation was robbed from them…

When Mikan entered, she received death glares from the disciplinary committee. God! If looks could kill, Mikan's so dead…

The members of the committee were seated on one side and Mikan's seat was in the middle of the room. _Whoa! Hot seat…_ she thought while walking towards the said chair.

The moment she sat down the members of the committee started blabbing about what Mikan did. All kinds of lectures, mean words, so-called "words of wisdom", came from them. Mikan's action of sitting was like a signal for them to start reciting their litany… long litany…

Mikan went out of the room while touching her ears. It hurts a lot now due to all of their lectures trying to get in her ears all at the same time.

When she stepped out of the room, somebody grabbed her arm. Since Mikan was too shocked, she immediately performed some self defense moves and threw the one who grabbed her to the ground.

"ow!" the person said and it sounded like a guy.

Mikan went near him to give him a finishing kick but when she got near, she saw that it was a big misunderstanding.

"k-Kaito-kun?" she said. Kaito held his hand up while Mikan just looked at him blankly. After a while, Mikan finally realized what Kaito was doing and helped him up.

"you've got good moves, huh?" Kaito said the moment he got up.

"sorry… still hurts?" she asked worriedly, knowing that it's her fault.

"no… I'm okay, don't worry…" he answered while giving her a wide smile.

"okay… so… what were you doing there anyway?"

"well… actually… i… I was waiting for you…" he said while looking away due to so much shame.

"oh… why?"

"uh… I just thought that you were out of it today and I wanted to accompany you home…"

"ahahaha… thanks… I admit, I'm really out of it today… ahahaha…"

"it's nothing… if you don't mind me asking… um… what's bothering you?" he asked looking at her now. "I might be able to help…" he added

"no you ca--" she was about to say that Kaito couldn't help her but then an absurd yet possible idea came to her.

"of course YOU CAN HELP ME!" she blurted out. Kaito was shocked by that outburst.

"h-how?" he asked while backing away a bit.

"easy… (blah… blah… blah…)" she said. (sorry guys… it's a secret… you'll know later on… how Kaito could help…)

"okay… thanks… see ya!" she said and ran off. _I thought I was gonna take her home… _Kaito thought.

SAKURA RESIDENCE:

Mikan just got home from school and she was darn happy. She was like dancing with the wind while climbing up the stairs. She kept on dancing until she bumped into somebody making her lose her balance. She was about to fall when Natsume caught her just in time coz if he didn't, she could've been rolling down the stairs now.

"this doesn't look like a dance floor, idiot…" he said

"yeah right… let go of me now…" Natsume immediately let go of her and started his way down the stairs. "hey…" she called as if she forgot something.

"what now?" he asked without looking back. "Saturday… 10am…" she said and walked out. _What was that? A date? _He thought with confusion but that can never hide the fact that he was looking forward to it.

SATURDAY 7am:  
Mikan was tossing around the bed waiting for her alarm clock to go off.

5…

4…

3

2

1…

RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG…………………………………………………………

" yes!" Mikan said and jumped up from bed. We all know that Mikan never wakes up immediately when her alarm clock rings, but this is a special case. Today is the BIG day….

The day of her date with Natsume… she was so excited… don't get me wrong guys, she wasn't excited of going on a date with him… she was excited about ruining it.

She washed her face and groomed her hair. She looked perfect even if she was just in her pajamas. She went downstairs to take her breakfast. It was a silent breakfast.

After a while, Mikan and Natsume finished eating and Natsume was ready to exit the room when Mikan suddenly pulled him back and said, "don't forget, 10 o'clock…" then she left.

9AM:

The two… I mean the three of them were getting ready for the so-called date: Kaito+Mikan+Natsumechaos

Kaito and Natsume were both confused on why they were summoned while the brunette was just so excited to carry out her evil plan.

9:30 AM:

Natsume was already in the living room with Mikan's parents. They were waiting for the girl of the house to come down.

After a minute or so, the awaited girl finally arrived and she looked… more gorgeous than you could ever imagine. But Natsume hasn't seen her yet since he's reading his manga. "what took you so long, idi…" he was about to throw another insult at her but sorry to say… launch delayed… he was cut off when he saw Mikan by the stairs.

_She looks… perfect… _he thought. Seeing that kind of beauty was worth the wait. Mikan has always been pretty… but this time, she's even more beautiful that it made Natsume shut up.

Mikan was amused of seeing Natsume, dumbfounded. "what were you saying, Nat-su-me?"

Natsume got out of his trance and blushed, knowing that he lost his cool for some time. "I-I'm not gonna repeat myself, i-i-idiot…" he said and turned his back to her. It was really hard to call her an idiot when she looks like that…

"I see you're all set…" Yuka said. She thought that Mikan was finally softening on Natsume, but she was wrong… so wrong…

"no mom… we're still waiting for someone…" Mikan said while Natsume just looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"who?" Reo asked. "let's just say… my… chaperone…"

"who's your cha…" Reo wasn't able to finish since the doorbell rang.

_DING. DONG… DING. DONG…_

"that must be HIM…" Mikan said and went for the door. _HIM?_ Natsume thought.

When Mikan opened the door, there was this guy with brown hair, tantalizing brown eyes and about the same age as Mikan standing at the doorstep.

"Kaito-kun… come in…"

"okay…" he said while smiling. Mikan pulled him and brought him to where her parents are.

"mom… we're going…" she said as she pulled Natsume's shirt…

"who's he?" Reo asked. He won't let his daughter do something unpleasant and plus he doesn't know this guy… while Natsume just stared at him trying hard that his stare won't turn into a glare so that they won't notice that he was pissed.

"oh… he's…" Mikan was about to introduce Kaito to her parents when the lad beat her to it.

"I'm Kaito Hikari… it's nice to meet you…"

"are you in anyway related to the Hikaris?" Reo asked

"um… my family owns the Hikari Group of Companies…"

Shock and happiness was visible in the eyes of the Sakura couple. "you… you are Shiro and Kana's son?"

"why yes… do you know them?" Kaito asked curiously.

"know them? There are our closest friends… we've been together since high school…" Yuka explained while Reo nodded.

"no wonder you look like Shiro and has Kana's eyes…" Reo stated.

"um… mom, enough with the interview… we're going…" Mikan interrupted.

"okay… take care you three… and Kaito…"

"yes?"

"ask your parents to come over sometimes…"

"okay…" then the three of them left. With a happy Mikan, confused and flattered Kaito and a totally pissed Natsume.

They went in the Sakura family limo with Mikan in the middle much as to prevent Natsume from strangling Kaito. Tsubasa who was again the driver kept looking at his rear view mirror, observing the three.

_This is spelling D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R…_ he thought… while looking at Mikan who was having a good time with Kaito and Natsume throwing death glares at the two. Tsubasa could feel the heat…

_Chaperone, huh? Yeah right… flirting with the chaperone… now how's that?! _Natsume thought grudgingly.

Mikan was really doing her best to piss Natsume off and seeing that it's working is making her do it even longer. While Mikan was carrying out her plan, Kaito has a plan of his own: get close with Mikan.

So while Mikan was somewhat being sweet to him he was taking the opportunity and his right arm was on its way to Mikan's right shoulder. Just when it was about to land on its destination, the car came to a sudden stop, sending Kaito to the ground.

_Right on time…_ Natsume thought happily.

Natsume snickered but it wasn't audible and looked at Tsubasa with a look which says "I owe you one…" and Tsubasa replied with a thumbs up. But when Mikan was about to turn her gaze at him, he immediately put his hand down and said, "we have arrived, Mikan…" while trying to hide his naughty grin.

Natsume snickered again but this time it was audible. "what are laughing about?"

Natsume just pointed a finger at… "you… PERVERT!!" Mikan screamed. Natsume could see Mikan's underwear since she was bending down to help Kaito up and she was wearing a mini-skirt. "so it's hearts now, huh?" he mocked.

"oh, shut up…" Mikan replied and helped Kaito up.

"you alright, Kaito-kun?" she asked worriedly while Natsume was kind of mimicking her. "are you coming or what?"

"can't you see I'm helping him up?!"

"whatever…" he said and walked onwards. _Someone's getting jealous…_ Kaito thought.

(sorry guys… but I just don't want to get too much detailed coz it'll just make this chap even longer than it already is…)

The day was spent wisely. They bought a lot of food, played games (arcade), watched movies. But in all of that, never was Natsume glad since Mikan spent all of her time being so darn sweet to Kaito.

They were inside a private movie house owned by the Sakuras. Mikan was sitting beside Kaito while Natsume was sitting behind them. The two were watching the movie but the one behind them wasn't. instead, he was watching Mikan and Kaito's every move.

When they went out it seemed like Kaito and Mikan were the ones having a date. He finally had it so he made his move. When they were in an ice cream store because some sweet loving chick said she wanted to have one.

Mikan was the first one to sit and Kaito was about to sit next to her but then Natsume nudge him and sat next to her. Kaito was pissed but didn't have a choice.

Mikan was eating a strawberry flavored ice cream with chocolate kisses all over while Kaito was eating chocolate ice cream with caramel and Natsume was eating a banana split with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream and one scoop of strawberry ice cream with chocolate kisses and whole strawberries all over. (yum!)

"you want some, Mikan-chan?" Kaito asked while raising a spoonful of chocolate ice cream. Mikan nodded and opened her mouth. Kaito was about to put the ice cream in her mouth when Natsume suddenly put two whole strawberries in her mouth.

"wodiuuator…" she muttered. It meant, what did you do that for?

Kaito was really pissed now so he stood up, paid the bill and took Mikan's hand. "come on, Mikan… let's leave that jerk…" and Mikan obliged.

"yeah… better leave him…" she said. They were about to go when Natsume caught Mikan's free hand. "what do you think you're doing?" he asked

"taking Mikan from an asshole like you, Hyuuga…" Kaito answered while Mikan was just being torn between the two. "oh yeah? well I think that it's more like stealing my date…CHAPERONE…"

"haha! Talking big when you're being dumped…" Kaito mocked.

"yeah… that's him arrogant and all… no one would ever like him... just go home, would you…" Mikan retorted.

"yeah… you're not needed… and it also seems like you're the chaperone here… following us around…"

"shut up…"

"what?"

"I said, SHUT THE FCK UP!" he yelled than grabbed Mikan's hand leading her somewhere. Kaito was about to stop him but Natsume was just so pissed he ended hitting Kaito straight in the face. K.O. (as in KNOCKED OUT) that's how you would describe Kaito now.

"where are you taking me?!"

""

After a while, Natsume finally stopped walking but he was still holding Mikan's hand. Natsume wouldn't look at her. He was hiding his face with his bangs and he had this gloomy aura surrounding him. But Mikan was busy complaining and throwing insults and curses at her so she didn't notice.

After a while she finally realized the silence that was only broken by her and her hand which was gripped tightly by Natsume.

"h-hey! It hurts ya'know!" Mikan exclaimed referring to her precious hand. "I know…" Natsume answered with a voice which wasn't cold but definitely not warm. It was gloomy, sad, and low. Far from the arrogant bastard that he is.

"how 'bout you?" Natsume asked out of the blue.

"what about me?"

"do you know it hurts?"

"hey! You're the one torturing my hand here… so don't you d--THAT"S NOT IT!" Natsume's cry didn't allow Mikan to finish.

Mikan was taken aback… she has seen Natsume pissed a million times but never has she seen him this dead serious that she just had to shut up.

Natsume was silent too but this time he was looking straight into Mikan's eyes. Mikan felt uncomfortable and tried to look away but couldn't. She also tried hard to retrieve her hand but Natsume just gripped even tighter. Natsume's eyes looked like a dark masterpiece. Filled with so much emotion that only a master artist could picture. Filled with pain, sadness, love… yet it was being held back.

"natsu-" she started but failed to finish when she noticed that Natsume's face was drawing closer. He was about to kiss Mikan but his eyes weren't closed. Mikan felt really uneasy but there was this soothing feeling that made her whole body disobey her mind's command.

Just when the gap was about to be closed, Natsume stopped and turned his gaze to the ground. Mikan finally got out of her trance and knew that she didn't have the need to pull her hand away from since he willingly but forcefully dropped it.

"you… don't know…" his masterpiece-like eyes turned into his usual dark, cold orbs.

"what do you mean?"

"quit the act… I know that you know…"

"now you may go and flirt with your chaperone… I'm going home…" he walked away.

_Did I really--_ Mikan's thought was discontinued and she just sighed.

Mikan was so tired and confused that she just wanted to go home. She called Tsubasa and told him to pick her up. Tsubasa was there in a jiffy.

Mikan got in. "let's go home now…"

"where's your date and chaperone…" he asked grinning

"the first one went home the other one was K.O.ed."

"ow…" he exclaimed feeling pity for Kaito. _Man! It must've hurt…_

"and why did Na--"

"TSU-BA-SA…" Mikan said trying to suppress her annoyance.

"yes?" _uh-oh… chill Mikan…_ he thought

"DRIVE…"

"oh-kay…"

"and one more thing…" Mikan started

"keep your mouth shut, please…"

"y-yes…" then they drove off.

END OF CHAPTER:

Guys! I'm so very sorry about the excruciatingly late update. I was busy since I was attending some summer workshop. I didn't have the time to think much about this. I hope that you guys didn't lose hope. I made it a bit longer than the last chapter since a friend of mine asked me too. I hope you don't mind it's length. I swear to submit the next chapter one week from now. It's a PROMISE. Okay guys…

REVIEWS PLEASE… CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS ARE TOTALLY ALLOWED.

REVIEWS PLEASE… CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS ARE TOTALLY ALLOWED.

REVIEWS PLEASE… CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS ARE TOTALLY ALLOWED.

REVIEWS PLEASE… CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS ARE TOTALLY ALLOWED.

REVIEWS PLEASE… CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS ARE TOTALLY ALLOWED.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER… : ) bye… till next time…


	8. Confusion

Hey guys

Hey guys! As promised… I updated a week after my last update which was in May 28, 2008… Wednesday… and I bet you all know what day it is today right? I hope you do… okay… okay… enough with the trashy introduction… thanks to all those who bothered to leave reviews… it is greatly appreciated…

Here goes… chapter eight… hope you like it… don't forget to give some reviews… okay?

REVIEWS PLEASE!! REVIEWS PLEASE!!

Chapter 8: Conscience

FLASHBACK:

"_how 'bout you?" Natsume asked out of the blue._

"_what about me?"_

"_do you know it hurts?" _

"_hey! You're the one torturing my hand here… so don't you d--THAT"S NOT IT!" Natsume's cry didn't allow Mikan to finish._

_Mikan was taken aback… she has seen Natsume pissed a million times but never has she seen him this dead serious that she just had to shut up._

_Natsume was silent too but this time he was looking straight into Mikan's eyes. Mikan felt uncomfortable and tried to look away but couldn't. She also tried hard to retrieve her hand but Natsume just gripped even tighter. Natsume's eyes looked like a dark masterpiece. Filled with so much emotion that only a master artist could picture. Filled with pain, sadness, love… yet it was being held back._

"_natsu-" she started but failed to finish when she noticed that Natsume's face was drawing closer. He was about to kiss Mikan but his eyes weren't closed. Mikan felt really uneasy but there was this soothing feeling that made her whole body disobey her mind's command._

_Just when the gap was about to be closed, Natsume stopped and turned his gaze to the ground. Mikan finally got out of her trance and knew that she didn't have the need to pull her hand away from since he willingly but forcefully dropped it._

"_you… don't know…" his masterpiece-like eyes turned into his usual dark, cold orbs._

"_what do you mean?"_

"_quit the act… I know that you know…" _

"_now you may go and flirt with your chaperone… I'm going home…" he walked away._

_Did I really-- Mikan's thought was discontinued and she just sighed._

END F FLASHBACK:

_Natsume… do you really mean that? _She thought. Then a voice from her head suddenly said, "I bet the hurt he was talking about was way more painful than the pain he caused your hand…"

"ugh!" Mikan yelled. She was already in her room ever since she got home fro the date. She felt terrible. The thing called guilt kept on bugging her BIG time. Her mission was to make Natsume mad and not sad. Those two are totally different things and I'm not just talking about the spelling here.

World War Three was already the main event in Mikan's head, the kind and humble Mikan vs. the proud and ill-tempered Mikan.

_Apologize, damn it!_

_No way! You did nothing wrong!_

_Yes, you did!_

_Fine! But he deserved it! He's got acute attitude problems…_

_He does… but you went totally overboard…_

_Didn't… it was just enough…_

_No… you hurt him in there…_

_Nah…_

_He's hurt…_

_Who on the face of mother earth cares?!_

_You do…_

_Don't…_

_Do…_

_Don't…_

"OH! SHUT UP!" she cried. She was completely messed up now. She couldn't focus on anything she does. Just for example was when she was supposed to wash her face but then she ended up just sitting on the toilet bowl and thinking and forgot to wash her face which was her initial intention. That incident was like a video that kept on playing in her head. Not only that, all the good things that Natsume did for her were playing as the background making her feel a lot worse.

Knock.. knock.. knock..

"come in…" she said while lying on her bed and looking blankly at the ceiling.

"Mikan-sama, dinner is served…" there butler, Seiki, announced by the door.

"okay… be there in a minute…" she answered lazily while trying to demagnetized herself from the bed.

After a minute, Mikan went down to the dinning hall as promised. There were her dad, mom, Youichi, the maids and the butlers… all waiting for her. But one was obviously missing…

_Where's Natsume?? _She asked inwardly. Her question was immediately answered when one of the maids announced, "Natsume-sama said he wouldn't want to eat… but would you want me to bring him some food, sir?" her question bound for Reo.

"later maybe…" was his answer.

_What is he? On a hunger strike or something? _Mikan thought while heading for her seat.

"Mikan, how was your day?" Reo asked when she sat down.

"um..." she couldn't think of a proper adjective for it other than, terrible, excruciating, horrible, ought to be forgotten, worst nightmare… but she believes that none of these would place her on her parents' good side.

I know Mikan was an idiot, moron and any other terms that tell you that she's stupid but she definitely hasn't reached the level of being imbecile. So I know that she has enough wits in her almost empty head to say, "it went well… so far…"

"oh… oh yeah… how 'bout Kaito-kun?" Yuka butted in.

"well… he was fine… we had fun…" she said while trying to get the sight of an unconscious Kaito out of her mind.

"so it was fun, huh?"

"yeah…" except the fact that Kaito was K.O.ed and Natsume was totally upset.

"I'm glad that your relationship with Natsume is finally taking a step forward…" Yuka exclaimed while beaming a million-dollar smile.

_Yeah… YOU are glad…_Mikan thought while eating the roasted lamb meat on her plate.

"you really should adjust and learn to like each other…" Reo said

"I could've done it long ago if it was as easy as you made it sound…" Mikan said, the heat was rising again. Youichi was eating faster just in case his stubborn sister would need support for her grand walk out again.

"Time flies faster than you think it does, you know?" he reminded his daughter…

"the time for you and Natsume to live as a married couple would come without you noticing it…" Yuka explained. Mikan felt like throwing up when she heard the phrase "married couple" come out of Yuka's mouth.

"riiiiiiiiiggghhhhhtttt…" she said and decided to go before her parents decide to say absurd tings again.

Youichi was already standing by the door ready to get it for Mikan. "Mikan…" Reo called calmly and he sounded like he didn't have any plan of stopping her from leaving.

"what?"

"bring this…" he said while holding up a tray with food.

"I'm full…"

"for Natsume, I mean…"

"and why do y-- because I said so…" Reo beat her to it.

Mikan was about to argue but decided not to do so since Reo's face looked so determined and something that cannot be compromised with. She can't possibly argue with that face. Well… I wouldn't…

So she just had to conform to it… her whole body was cold just of the mere thought that she would have to talk to Natsume… she was so deep in thought that she didn't notice she was already in front of Natsume's room.

She gulped. "what the hell am I supposed to do now?" she asked herself knowing that she has to look confident and at ease when she sees Natsume or more importantly, when Natsume sees her.

_Give him the food then give him a sincere apology…_

_No freakin' way…_

_Shut up and do it…_

_Over my dead body…_

_Be humble for once…_

_I am…_

_Not to him… swallow your pride for god's sake!_

_You wish…_

_Fine! At least give him the food…_

_Let him starve…_

_Pity him… he might die of starvation…_

_It's his fault…_

_You had the chance to save him but you didn't… won't that bug your conscience?_

_You think I have one?_

_I know you do…_

_Fine! I'll save him from dying of STARVATION… happy?_

"okay… here we go…" she breathed in deeply then knocked three times. After the surprisingly gentle knock, she put the tray on the floor and vanished into her room like, _POOF…_

MONDAY MORNING:

The whole family except Natsume was already eating breakfast. Mikan on the other hand was also eating breakfast but if you would have lucky eyes to have witnessed it then it would actually seem as if she was eating her meal for the whole day!! Man! I can't imagine how she could stay skinny with that kind of diet…

Then Natsume suddenly showed up in the dinning hall and it seems like he was in a hurry. He was all set for school… his coat unbuttoned, his white polo half-buttoned, loose necktie, and his messy yet attractive raven locks. He just got an apple and he was ready to hit the road.

"how was Saturday?" Reo asked out of the blue… Natsume just turned and pointed a finger at himself with a you-talkin'-to-me? look. Reo just nodded while folding the newspaper he was reading a while ago.

"you could call it… a day for TWO…" Mikan choked with her bread upon hearing the word, two. Mikan immediately drank all the contents of her glass to push the bread down her throat.

"you okay, sweetie?" Yuka asked with concern. Natsume didn't have any reaction and Youichi was intrigued as if he knew that something was up. He knew his sister too well that she wouldn't react that way if nothing of Natsume's words hit her. But he also considered the fact that it was just caused by his sister's usual clumsiness and stupidity.

"uh… yeah… um… I'm going…" Mikan said trying to escape any interrogation especially with Natsume around she would definitely not be able to think straight to make up any lies.

Her day at school was anything but normal. All eyes were on her the moment she stepped into the school grounds. She was now known not only as the rich, extremely beautiful, heir to Sakura Ent., Mikan Sakura but also as the very first girl to see the interior of the detention cell. She also seemed to be Jinno's favorite student… always calling her to answer mathematical problems. Plus, she ended up spending all her cash because her best friend for all seasons loves business for all seasons and made her pay for every answer she gives to Mikan.

When she finally arrived home, she planned to go straight to her room to avoid any additional misfortunes. So she ran as fast as can be but unluckily, misfortune ran faster than her. Natsume was already right in front of her, looking at her ridiculously.

The look on his face just made her stop while Natsume just walked past her as if she didn't exist. _It's your chance… go for it… _she thought to herself.

"n-na-Natsume…" she called but Natsume didn't even hesitate to stop as if he didn't hear her at all. "hey! Moron!" Mikan called impatiently.

"look…" Natsume said almost not audible.

"one, you're the moron here and two, what is it? lastly, do it fast cause I barely have time for your stupidity…"

"i… i…"

"spit it out…"

"I… I… YOU'RE A JERK!" she yelled out of panic and pressure and ran as fast as she can wherever place she would end up. She was afraid that because of her stuttering Natsume would grow impatient and walk out on her.

_Shoot! How the hell did I end up saying that?! _She thought while running. For the first time she would actually, truthfully, sincerely admit that she is an idiot, moron, imbecile and whatever you wanna call it.

She went to her room and checked the messages on the phone. There was one, from the bitch… c'mon I know that you know who I'm talking about.

_Hey Sakura… come over here… we're having a party it's absolutely fun… what do you expect… it's my party… okay… 7:30PM at the bar I love going to… ciao_... then it was over…

"tsk… Luna…" she said disgustingly.

_Oh… I could at least take my mind off all this crazy stuff if I experience a new atmosphere… _he thought then sighed… going to Luna's party is much more like going into a filthy lion's den.

She looked at her watch. It was already 6PM she still has an hour and a half before the party. She immediately took off her clothes then got in the bathroom to take a quick shower. The water felt really nice. It was warm and it kind of washed off Mikan's stress.

She got out of the shower by 6:35PM. She didn't have a hard time picking clothes to wear. She just wore a simple, lose hooded shirt with her short shorts then some high-heeled footwear. She tied her hair up in a tight ponytail and her bangs were just falling carelessly on her face with no specific division.

It was the simple yet gorgeous look. Her curves and her silky white skin were emphasized, plus, her fair height added to her celestial appearance.

Mikan looked at her watch again. It was already 6:57. she sighed, "time to go…"

When she went down, she first thought of calling Tsubasa and asking him to drop her off the bar. But then, she changed her mind because if Tsubasa would drop her off, she couldn't trust him not to tell her parents where she was.

So she just snuck into there big garage which looked more like a parking lot in a hotel and drove off with their new BMW Z4 Convertible. (man! I like that car!)

It was a 30-40 minute drive to the bar but in Mikan's need for speed' type of driving it was just a 20-minute drive. God! If you violations she's committed… countless… I tell you… countless.

Beating the red light, over-speeding, counter-flowing, driving without a license, passing through one-way streets, parking in no parking areas and so much more… the list goes on… and one way to prove it is to see her old Porsche which is by now in the junk shop because of all the bumps, scratches, malfunctioning engine, over-heated battery, beaten up shock absorber, very dirty oil and poor air conditioning system… now how's that?!

She arrived at the bar and parked her car in the parking lot which was filled with so many first class cars. Thank god she was able to park her car without making the cars beside her scream. The last time she tried to park in the mall parking area, she left a very unpleasant message for the owner of the Mercedes-Benz which was on her right.

She locked the car and entered the bar. The interior was very Luna-ish… well, this is her party so what do you expect... almost everything covered in hot pink… there were loads of waiters and waitresses carrying drinks and food.

She saw Luna and her just as much as a bitch friends sitting on the most elegant, feathery, fluffy, hot pink couch in the center of the whole place. They look like they're spreading gossips again or backstabbing other people in their so-called girl talk. They all had a glass of champagne or something.

Mikan was still by the door checking out the whole place. The moment she started walking around, the people also started staring and guys following and offering her lots of things: drinks, roses, calling cards and seats.

Luna's girlfriends just rolled their eyes… envy visible in their eyes since only good for nothing guys try to woo them while Mikan gets all the guys… good for nothing guys and good at everything guys… all hers…

She didn't go to where Luna and her friends were. Yes, she came to the party but that doesn't mean she's gonna hang out with those freaks.

She just sat at the place where the bartender was showing off, throwing bottles here, there, and everywhere. She sat there while drinking the champagne she ordered. _Man! This guy surely has gone mental… _she thought while rolling her eyes.

The guy suddenly made a mistake with all his show off and hit Mikan with the bottle. Good thing, the guy launched carelessly and caught the bottle.

He was about to start again when, "could you just stop that?! If you hit me again, I swear I'm gonna juggle you in the air just like those bottles!"

Everyone looked at her because of all the noise. Luna finally noticed that her guest of honor was in the zone and so she approached her.

Mikan saw her and thought, _oh man! Here we go…_

"hi, Mikan…" she greeted. _Girl, you're so fake… _Mikan really wanted to tell her.

"oh, hello, Luna…" she greeted trying to sound so enthusiastic.

"what're you doing alone? Come with me…"

"n-n-okay…" she gave up since Luna was already dragging her.

While this was all happening, in the Sakura residence, everything was going haywire…

"MIIIKKKAAAAAAANNNN-SAAAMMAAA!!" this was the noise heard all over the house. They finally noticed that Mikan was nowhere to be found.

Reo was getting furious, Yuka was getting hysterical, Youichi's getting worried, and Natsume was going nuts for two reasons: 1) he's freaking worried and, 2) he's trying to hide it…

"HWAAAA! HWAA! HWAA!" Yuka cried.

"calm down, Yuka dear…" Reo said while patting her back.

"what the hell!?" Reo was a bit shocked of this answer from Yuka. "dear?"

"calm down!? My daughter's gone and you ask me to calm down!?"

"bu—just shut up, would you?" Youichi interrupted. Both his parents just looked at him. "you're shouting, doesn't help, you know…" he added.

Mikan's family were all worried sick in the living room, while Natsume was now pacing back and forth in his room.

Her parents decided to call Hotaru to see if she's with Mikan.

"hello…" a very frigid voice said from the other line.

"imai-san, is Mikan with you?" Reo asked earnestly

"do I seem like an orphanage?"

"no… but… thanks anyway…" he was about to hang up when Hotaru suddenly caught up with him.

"why do you ask?"

"well, she's nowhere to be found…" Reo answered.

"I'm coming over…" she informed then hung up.

AFTER 20 MINUTES:

_DING DONG… DING DONG…_

Seiki answered the door. There stood a girl about as tall as Mikan, with raven-black hair, cold and intimidating purple orbs. She just ignored Seiki and stormed in the mansion.

She reached the living room where the family was staying. "Imai-san" Reo said when he saw her.

"tell me… everything…" she ordered. "well, we were about to have dinner and when the maid went to Mikan's room she wasn't there and she isn't answering her phone… we're afraid that something might happen to her…"

"knowing how stupid your daughter is, I am 100 sure she'll get into trouble…" she told them while taking out her laptop.

"is there anything you can do?" Yuka asked while sniffing… she was just from another round of crying.

"I can do anything… now… Yuka…" she called. "yes?"

"do you know how many footwear she has?"

"yeah… she has about… 50 pairs…" Yuka answered. "count them now…" one of the maids immediately went upstairs to count the pair of shoes in her room. The maid was panting really hard when she came back after a few minutes…

While this so-called investigation is going on, Mikan was being quite entertained by Luna and her group of friends.

"here Mikan…" she said while offering her a glass of whiskey and Mikan gladly took it. drinking for her at that time was something she thought wouldn't hurt so she just drinks whatever there is to drink.

She didn't mind even if she was getting a bit dizzy. She just kept on drinking without even seeing what it is… man! How stupid!... she even had the guts to talk to everyone even guys…

"hey Mikan… want some?" Luna asked while holding up a glass of some more whiskey.

"sure… gimme that…" she said and drank the glass' contents in one gulp.

"hey, Mikan… let's dance…" a guy called her. How dare him call her by her first name like that… acting as if they were close or something but still, Mikan obliged and danced carelessly.

"ma'am, there –pant- are only –pant- 49 –pant- pairs" she said in between pants.

"what?! That ca-- she left without telling you…" Hotaru cut off Yuka's statement.

"huh? What do you mean?" Reo asked. "check the garage now…" she ordered again. Tsubasa flew to the garage as fast as possible and then back. "Mikan-sama's car is gone, ma'am…"

"I see… what car?" she asked while waiting for something in her laptop to fully load. "the BMW Z4, ma'am" "color?" "silver…" "plate number?" "NXM 143"

Then after a while of entering so many whatsoever in her laptop she finally said that she would know where Mikan most probably would be. She simply hacked through the system of Japan's transportation office. That office put hidden cameras along roads and took pictures of people who have violations and she has seen Mikan's car 3 times and in different streets… she knew that she would find Mikan that way if she drove the car herself since she is very prone to over-speeding and many more violations.

"he could be along these roads…" she said and gave them the pictures. The moment Hotaru handed them the pictures, someone grabbed it. it was Natsume. He's gone crazy and just when he decided to look for her, he heard someone say where she could be found and ran off.

_God damn it! you idiot… where are you?! _a very worried Natsume Hyuuga thought while driving his Mercedes-Benz. Then, he suddenly saw a car exactly like the one in the picture, silver, convertible, BMW Z4. he just had to get a closer look to see the plate number.

When he passed a bit closer, he saw the letters NXM and now he was sure that was her car. _What the hell is she doing in a bar?!_ He thought then parked his car across hers.

He hurriedly walked to the entrance but when he was about to enter, two bouncers blocked his way and asked if he was invited in this party.

"look, I don't have time to fool around you guys… just let me pass…"

"sorry, pal…" the bouncer said and was shoving him away the entrance

"no… sorry, PAL…" Natsume said and punched the bouncers and fought his way in. the bouncers weren't able to stop him but they were still conscious they aren't as weak as Kaito to get knocked out with one punch… what a weakling...

When he got in, he saw that Mikan was holding a glass off wine… this time… oh lord! Her liver would go psycho with all those different alcohols she's drinking. Plus, there's also this boy who was pulling Mikan's arm as if wanting to lead her to some place.

"let go of me…" she whined although her dizziness and drowsiness is evident in her voice. "c'mon! just a second…" the guy insisted while there were other guys watching. This made Natsume's blood boil.

"let go of her…" he stated in a very dark and low voice.

"what? Who are you?" the guy just asked. "she's mine… now LET GO!" with that, Mikan turned her head only to see Natsume fuming with anger. "Natsume?"

_Oh… I see… he's actually… HOT…_ the bitchiest girl, Luna, thought. She clung to Natsume and said, "let them do their business… let's have some fun…"

"shut up… you whore…" he got Luna's hand and threw it aside while glaring intensely at her.

"now give her to me…" he said. "dream on…" the guy mocked while his companions just smiled or smirked. Natsume clenched his fist… he can't control it now…

"I said, GIVE HER TO ME!" he yelled than attacked the guy. There were six of them and only one of him… he punched the guy who holding Mikan straight on the face and got her. The guys comrades attacked Natsume but they could never hit Natsume…

Their butts were handed to them by Natsume. They were scared of him now that they just ran away. After the fight, Natsume turned to Mikan and carried her bridal style. "hey… you ruined my party!!" Luna whined but Natsume just ignored her.

"I'm talking to you!!" she cried and held unto Natsume's sleeve.

"listen... you do this again and I swear it's not just your party that I'm gonna ruin… I might just include your disgusting face…" he threatened her then walked to wear his car was parked.

They reached home and he carried her again, but his time to her room. Everyone was shocked to see Natsume carrying Mikan. He passed by the shocked audience and said, "pick up her car at the parking lot of Cliché Bar".

Youichi and Hotaru just watched them. The maids giggled at the scene, seeing that Natsume cares about Mikan. The moment he got in her room, he put her on the bed then got a towel and a container with warm water.

He wiped Mikan's face and hands making sure that her hang over would at least lessen tomorrow. While he was doing so, he heard Mikan sleep talk again, "n-n-tss-me… n-nat-sme… n-nat-su-me… nat-su-me…" her words getting clearer and clearer… but then she never continued what she was saying.

Natsume just sighed… _you idiot…_ he thought lightly… he now realized how much his words bothered Mikan… "sleep tight, mi-kan…" and then he leaned down to kiss her forehead.

When he went out of the room, he saw all those maids giggling and blushing… his cheeks heated up realizing that they saw what he just did… he looked at the floor and said, "just change her clothes and take care of her…" then he walked directly to his room, avoiding more embarrassment.

END OF CHAPTER:

Sorry if it's long… but I just had a hard time trying to shorten this but still having the right and sufficient contents… this is the best I can do in that length of time… but is still hope that you like it… the next chapter would be the chapter where Mikan and Natsume would get along… the first part of chapter 9 was supposed to be the ending part of this chapter but then it would be a lot longer. Thanks for the reviews by the way. Please tell me how long you want it be… and I'll TRY my best to do it or if this is alright with you…

REVIEW PLEASE!! REVIEWS PLEASE!!


	9. AUTHOR'S NOTE

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys. It's me, wingedneko-kio. I really am sorry for not updating for TOOOOOOOOOO long. I am wrote this to tell you that 'CYBERLOVE' isn't gonna be a discontinued story. I just need more ideas and inspiration to be able to continue the story without ruining the original plot. But while I'm trying to gather ideas for 'CYBERLOVE', I am writing two new stories. One is in Shaman King which is titled, Wedding Catastrophes and the other one is in Gakuen Alice which is titled, Wedding With Much Delay. I hope you support these stories the way you supported 'CYBERLOVE'. I really appreciate it. Please review. I accept criticisms but please still save me some respect. Not that I already encountered a cruel reviewer but because I know that incidents of having really mean reviewers could happen. :-j I also wrote this to let you know that I'm still here and to thank you all for your continuous support. Kay, till next time.

I'LL BE BACK SOON… REAL SOON.. 


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